TEMPE, Greece (AP) — A head-on collision between a passenger practice and a freight practice flattened carriages, killed at the least 36 individuals and injured some 85, Greek officers stated Wednesday.
Before daybreak the following day, rescuers searched via twisted, smoking wreckage for survivors. What gave the impression to be the third carriage lay atop the clumped stays of the primary two.
Multiple automobiles derailed and at the least three burst into flames after the 2 trains bumped into one another at excessive pace simply earlier than midnight Tuesday, close to the city of Tempe in northern Greece.
Many of the roughly 350 individuals aboard the passenger practice had been college students coming back from Greece’s raucous Carnival, officers stated. This yr was the primary time the three-day competition, which precedes Lent, was celebrated in full for the reason that begin of the pandemic in 2020.
“This is a terrible tragedy that is hard to comprehend,” stated Deputy Health Minister Mina Gaga. “I feel so sorry for the parents of these kids.”
On Wednesday, the federal government declared three days of nationwide mourning.
“This is an indescribable tragedy,” authorities spokesman Giannis Oikonomou stated, including that 500 staff from emergency providers had been on the scene of the crash.
After dawn, rescuers turned to heavy equipment to begin transferring giant items of the trains, revealing extra our bodies and dismembered stays. Officials stated the military had been contacted to help.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was to go to the scene later within the day.
Costas Agorastos, the regional governor of the Thessaly space, instructed Greece’s Skai Television the 2 trains collided head on at excessive pace.
“Carriage one and two no longer exist, and the third has derailed,” he stated.
The trains crashed simply earlier than the Vale of Tempe, a gorge that separates the areas of Thessaly and Macedonia.
Survivors stated the influence threw a number of passengers via the home windows of practice automobiles. They stated others fought to free themselves after the passenger practice buckled, slamming right into a area close to the gorge, about 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens.
“There were many big pieces of steel,” stated Vassilis Polyzos, a neighborhood resident who stated he was one of many first individuals on the scene. “The trains were completely destroyed, both passenger and freight trains.”
He stated dazed and disoriented individuals had been escaping out of the practice’s rear automobiles as he arrived.
“People, naturally, were scared — very scared,” he stated. “They were looking around, searching; they didn’t know where they were.”
Eight rail workers had been amongst these killed within the crash, together with the 2 drivers of the freight practice and the 2 drivers of the passenger practice, in response to Greek Railroad Workers Union President Yannis Nitsas.
Greece’s firefighting service stated some 66 individuals had been hospitalized, together with six in intensive care.
“The evacuation process is ongoing and is being carried out under very difficult conditions due to the severity of the collision between the two trains,” stated hearth service spokesperson Vassilis Varthakoyiannis.
More than 200 individuals who had been unhurt within the crash or suffered minor accidents had been transported by bus to Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the north. Police took their names as they arrived, in an effort to trace anybody who could also be lacking.
The reason for the collision was not instantly clear. Two rail officers had been being questioned by police however had not been detained.
A teenage survivor who didn’t give his identify to reporters stated that simply earlier than the crash he felt a powerful braking and noticed sparks — then there was a sudden cease.
“Our carriage didn’t derail, but the ones in front did and were smashed,” he stated, visibly shaken.
He added that the primary automotive caught hearth and that he used a bag to interrupt the window of his automotive, the fourth, and escape.
Rail operator Hellenic Train stated the northbound passenger practice to Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest metropolis, had about 350 passengers on board.
Hellenic Train is operated by Italy’s FS Group, which runs rail providers in a number of European international locations.
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Patrick Quinn and David Rising contributed to this story from Bangkok. Gatopoulos reported from Athens.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”