OPEN LETTER/ Come to the dialogue and listen to me speak, otherwise I will cut off your scholarships, you will rot in prison. Please!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

ANALYSIS/ Investigations, arrests and controversy: Greece faces the most tragic railway accident in history

2023-03-02 18:05:58Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA HELENE COLLIOPOULOU
ANALYSIS/ Investigations, arrests and controversy: Greece faces the most tragic
Aerial view of the railway accident

Greece experienced the worst rail accident in its history, with the head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train on Tuesday night, which left 57 dead, according to a recent report.

How did it happen?

The accident happened around 23:30 local time on Tuesday (21:30 GMT) near the Tempi valley, in Thessaly, Central Greece, about 380 kilometers from Athens, on the main railway line that connects Athens to Thessaloniki.

The "Intercity" train with 342 passengers and 10 employees on board collided head-on with a freight convoy traveling in the opposite direction and being on the same track, according to the first elements of the investigation.

Then a fire broke out. The two locomotives were destroyed and the first three cars of the passenger train derailed. The drivers of the two trains died instantly.

Human losses

At least 42 people were killed, most of whom were in the first carriages, according to a Civil Defense report.

Dozens more were injured.

A large number of passengers were students returning to Thessaloniki after a long weekend in Greece.

Apocalyptic images

Firefighters and rescue teams that arrived at the scene reported apocalyptic scenes.

"As soon as they arrived at the site of the disaster, our teams found themselves in an apocalyptic landscape," Yiannis Goulas, president of the ambulance workers' union (EKAV), told public television channel ERT on Wednesday.

"People covered in blood were running around asking for help. People scattered across the fields after jumping out of broken windows," he added.

Footage of the burning wagons in a tangle of metal parts and broken windows was broadcast live by the media.

Other less damaged carriages were overturned on their sides as rescuers used ladders to try to free the survivors using two large cranes.

Investigations and arrests

As part of the immediately opened investigations, the head of the railway station of Larisa was arrested, after his testimony at the police station.

This 59-year-old man is being prosecuted for manslaughter and intentional bodily harm.

If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who visited the scene, said that "everything indicates that the tragedy comes, unfortunately, mainly from tragic human error."

In addition, Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned.

polemic

Controversy is mounting over the state of Greece's rail network, which some experts say is in shambles.

The rail network is traditionally underdeveloped and outdated, with Greeks benefiting from a dense network of bus connections.

The head of the machinists' union, Kostas Genidounias, claims that "everything is done by hand, the electronic systems have not worked since 2000".

In 2017, the Greek railway company (Trainose) was bought by the Italian public company Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane (FS) as part of a broad privatization program imposed by Greece's creditors during the decade of the financial crisis (2009-2019)./ AFP


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×