
The passenger train, on the Athens-Thessalonica line, derailed outside the Tempe tunnel, after colliding with a freight train on the Thessaloniki-Larisa line. The accident happened shortly after 23:00 and the wagons were engulfed in flames.
One of the members of the rescue team at the scene told the Greek media: " We couldn't get close to the first three wagons because there was a fire ."
He then added: "The situation was tragic as there were many dead. We found in the fields 4 to 5 dead people and in the wagons, mainly in the first three, there was no one alive. We took out the wounded first and then we took out only the dead. There are many victims".
He stated that most of the victims are students. "There were young people, 80% were young, under 30 years old. Most of the dead we found were young. The bodies of the victims are being identified by family members at the Larissa hospital. From the first two wagons, 2-3 were carbonized. It's hard to identify them."