By COSTAS KANTOURIS and DEREK GATOPOULOS (Associated Press)
TEMPE, Greece (AP) — A head-on collision between a passenger prepare and a freight prepare flattened carriages, killed not less than 36 folks and injured some 85, Greek officers mentioned Wednesday, with the demise toll anticipated to rise.
The reason for the crash was not instantly clear, however the stationmaster within the close by metropolis of Larissa was arrested Wednesday. The police didn’t launch his title. Another two folks have been detained for questioning.
Before daybreak the subsequent day, rescuers searched by smoking wreckage for survivors. What gave the impression to be the third carriage lay atop the twisted stays of the primary two.
It’s unclear at what velocity the 2 trains had been travelling once they bumped into one another simply earlier than midnight Tuesday, however state broadcaster ERT quoted rescuers as saying that some victims’ our bodies had been discovered 30-40 meters (100-130 toes) from the impression website. Multiple vehicles derailed and not less than three burst into flames within the crash close to the city of Tempe, about 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens.
Survivors mentioned the impression threw a number of passengers by the home windows of prepare vehicles. They mentioned others fought to free themselves after the passenger prepare buckled, slamming right into a area close to a gorge.
Many of the 350 folks aboard the passenger prepare had been college students getting back from Greece’s raucous Carnival, officers mentioned. This 12 months was the primary time the three-day pageant, which precedes Lent, was celebrated in full because the begin of the pandemic in 2020.
Visiting the accident scene, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis mentioned that the federal government should assist the injured get well and establish the lifeless.
“I can guarantee one thing: We will find out the causes of this tragedy and we will do all that’s in our power so that something like this never happens again,” Mitsotakis mentioned.
On Wednesday, the federal government declared three days of nationwide mourning, whereas flags flew at half-staff exterior all European Commission buildings in Brussels.
After dawn, rescuers turned to cranes and different heavy equipment to start out transferring giant items of the trains, revealing extra our bodies and dismembered stays. Officials mentioned the military had been contacted to help.
Rescuer Lazaros Sarianidis informed state broadcaster ERT that crews had been “very carefully” making an attempt to disentangle metal, sheet steel and different materials that was twisted collectively by the crash. “It will take a long time,” mentioned Sarianidis.
Costas Agorastos, the regional governor of the Thessaly space, informed Greece’s Skai Television that the 2 trains collided head on at excessive velocity.
“Carriage one and two no longer exist, and the third has derailed,” he mentioned.
The trains crashed simply earlier than the Vale of Tempe, a gorge that separates the areas of Thessaly and Macedonia.
“There were many big pieces of steel,” mentioned Vassilis Polyzos, an area resident who mentioned he was one of many first folks on the scene. “The trains were completely destroyed, both passenger and freight trains.”
He mentioned dazed and disoriented folks had been escaping out of the prepare’s rear vehicles as he arrived.
“People, naturally, were scared — very scared,” he mentioned. “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 prepare and the 2 drivers of the passenger prepare, in keeping with Greek Railroad Workers Union President Yannis Nitsas.
Greece’s firefighting service mentioned some 66 folks 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,” mentioned fireplace 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.
Barely in a position to maintain again tears, Greece’s Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis informed reporters on the crash website that authorities would examine “in all seriousness and complete transparency” the causes of the crash.
“We will do everything to investigate the causes and won’t leave anything to be swept under the carpet,” Karamanlis mentioned.
A teenage survivor who didn’t give his title to reporters mentioned 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 mentioned, visibly shaken.
He added that the primary automotive caught fireplace and that he used a bag to interrupt the window of his automotive, the fourth, and escape.
Rail operator Hellenic Train mentioned the northbound passenger prepare 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”