At least 36 folks had been killed and one other 66 injured late Tuesday when two trains collided close to the Greek metropolis of Larissa, authorities stated.
Several carriages had been virtually fully destroyed within the collision between a passenger practice and a freight practice simply earlier than midnight on Tuesday, with a minimum of one automotive showing to catch hearth and entice passengers inside.
Emergency providers raced to seek out survivors among the many charred wreckage on Wednesday.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life,” stated one rescue employee, rising from the wreckage. “It’s tragic. Five hours later, we are finding bodies.”
Several vehicles had overturned or caught hearth once they got here off the tracks within the influence, leaving a tangled mess of metallic and shattered glass.
A police spokesman instructed AFP the 59-year-old station grasp had been arrested, and expenses could be introduced shortly.
Government spokesman Yiannis Economou stated the 2 trains had been left working on the identical monitor for “several kilometers.”
‘Complete panic’
The passenger practice, carrying 350 folks, had been touring from the capital Athens to the northern metropolis of Thessaloniki.
Health Minister Thanos Plevris stated most passengers had been “young people,” with the practice carrying many college students returning to Thessaloniki after a protracted vacation weekend.
“It was a nightmare … I’m still shaking,” 22-year-old passenger Angelos instructed AFP.
“Fortunately we were in the penultimate car and we got out alive. There was a fire in the first cars and complete panic.”
“The collision was like a huge earthquake.”
A destroyed wagon practice after a collision close to Larissa metropolis, Greece, March 1, 2023. (EPA Photo)
“I was stained with blood from other people who were injured near me,” a passenger named Lazos instructed the newspaper Protothema.
Some 150 firefighters and 40 ambulances had been mobilized for the response, in response to Greek emergency providers.
“The operation to free trapped people is underway and is taking place in difficult conditions, due to the seriousness of the collision between the two trains,” spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis instructed reporters.
He later stated that 36 folks have been discovered useless, whereas 66 injured had been within the hospital, together with six folks in intensive care.
Some 194 folks have been rescued to this point.
‘Stained with blood’
As morning broke Wednesday, two massive cranes on the positioning had been beginning to clear components of the wreckage as rescuers labored to free any passengers probably nonetheless caught within the broken wagons.
One of the smashed carriages was lifted from a area subsequent to the practice tracks the place it had landed after derailing, surrounded by scattered particles.
It is just not but recognized why the 2 trains collided in what native media is asking the worst “train accident that Greece has ever known.”
“My thoughts are with the people in Greece this morning,” tweeted the pinnacle of the European Council, Charles Michel.
“Shocked by the news and images of the collision of the two trains,” he added.
Neighboring Türkiye additionally supplied condolences after the lethal practice crash. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held a cellphone name together with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias on Wednesday morning.
The regional Gov. Kostas Agorastos instructed the Skai TV channel the loss of life toll was more likely to be “very high” and warned that the primary two carriages on the passenger practice “no longer exist at all.”
A destroyed wagon practice after a collision close to Larissa metropolis, Greece, March 1, 2023. (EPA Photo)
‘Windows exploded’
On the native media website Onlarissa, a younger girl stated that the practice “was stopped for a few minutes when we heard a deafening noise”.
Another passenger instructed Skai tv that “the windows suddenly exploded. People were screaming and were afraid.”
“Fortunately, we were able to open the doors and escape fairly quickly. In other wagons, they did not manage to get out, and one wagon even caught fire,” he added.
The president of the OSE practice drivers’ union Kostas Genidounias instructed AFP from the scene of the accident that the 2 trains had ended up on the identical monitor and collided head-on.
He stated the accident was “unimaginable” and “would have been avoided if the safety systems were working”.
An emergency authorities assembly was organized after the crash and navy hospitals in Thessaloniki and Athens have been put “on alert” in case they’re wanted.
A 3-day interval of mourning has been declared.
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