(Photo : Photo by STRINGER/SOOC/AFP via Getty Images)
Officials with the Fire Service said that a passenger train and an incoming freight train crashed in a horrific collision in northern Greece on Wednesday, killing at least 26 persons and injuring at least 85.
After dozens of people were killed and dozens more were injured in a head-on accident between two trains in central Greece, rescue teams are desperately searching for survivors.
At least 32 people were killed, and more than 85 were injured after a passenger train carrying more than 350 passengers collided with a freight train in Tempi, central Greece, near the city of Larissa, according to the Greek Fire Service.
Greece Accident Kills, Injures Dozens
According to the Greek Fire Service, recovery activities are already underway, focusing on the first two passenger train cars. The death toll is certain to increase. The passenger train had been heading from Athens, the nation's capital, to Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest and culturally vibrant city.
The crash followed a weekend-long national festival that concluded with a Monday vacation, as per CNN. Pictures released by ERT, the state-owned national television of Greece, depicted vast plumes of smoke billowing from derailed carriages and lengthy lines of rescue vehicles alongside them.
While paramedics carried shell-shocked passengers away from the site, rescue personnel with torches searched the carriages for survivors. The photographs also depicted some of the survivors landing in Thessaloniki. Vassilis Varthakogiannis, the spokesman for the Greek Fire Service, stated that 194 passengers had been transported safely to Thessaloniki, and 20 persons had been relocated by bus to the city of Larissa. He noted that 53 of the 85 injured remained hospitalized.
The rescue effort involves at least 150 firefighters, 17 trucks, and 40 ambulances, according to Varthakogiannis. Officials have stated that it is yet unclear what caused the crash. Hellenic Train, the largest Greek railroad operator, was bought by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane in 2017 and is currently under Trenitalia's complete control. The business provides both passenger and freight transport services.
Athens-Thessaloniki is the primary route where daily connections are provided. Minor injuries or unharmed passengers were evacuated by bus to Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the incident. As individuals came, police collected their identities to locate anyone who may be missing, according to Sun Star.
An unidentified teen survivor told Greek media as he exited one of the buses that he felt hard braking right before the collision and witnessed sparks, followed by a quick halt. He stated that the first vehicle caught fire, and he used a bag to shatter the glass of his vehicle, the fourth, to escape.
The regional governor of Thessaly, Costas Agorastos, told state television that the crash was "very powerful" and a "terrible night." Authorities said that the army was asked for assistance. The rail operator Hellenic Train stated that the northbound passenger train from Athens had left the station.
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Survivor Describes The Horrific Greece Train Crash
Over 250 passengers were successfully transported to Thessaloniki on buses. One passenger said to public television ERT that he could leave the train after smashing a window with his bag. Stergios Minenis, a 28-year-old passenger who jumped to escape from the wreckage, stated, "We heard a big bang, [it was] 10 nightmare seconds." Per SBS, Angelos Tsiamouras, a passenger, remarked, "It felt like a tremor." During the early hours of Wednesday, ERT footage showed rescue personnel combing the debris and nearby fields for survivors using headlamps.
The passenger train left Athens at around 7:30 p.m. with approximately 350 passengers, according to local media (local time). Tuesday, just before midnight, the fire department was alerted of the mishap, according to their report. The freight train was traveling between Thessaloniki and Larissa.
In 1972, two trains crashed head-on outside of Larissa, killing 19 persons. Many trains operate on single tracks, and signaling and computerized control systems have yet to be completed in many regions of the country's aging rail network.
As part of the international bailout package, Greece transferred railway operator TRAINOSE to Italy's Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane in 2017, anticipating hundreds of millions to be invested in rail infrastructure over the next few years.
According to the website of the Italian corporation, it is the leading provider of passenger and freight rail transit in Greece and operates 342 passenger and commercial routes daily.
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