A freak train collision in central Greece has left 36 dead, reported the Greek Fire Service Wednesday morning. The accident was met with immediate public outcry, and the Greek transport minister swiftly resigned over the ensuing backlash. The minister, Kostas Karamanlis, told reporters he felt it was his “duty” to resign “as a basic indication of respect for the memory of the people who died so unfairly.”
The crash took place Wednesday morning, roughly 200 miles north of Athens in the Vale of Tempe region. The manager of a nearby train station in Larissa was arrested in connection to the accident, but the police didn’t release the manager’s name.
What Happened?
It’s unclear at this time what, exactly, caused the derailment and crash. What is known is that two train cars collided while both were moving at full speed, causing a massive explosion and resulting in a stunning twisted knot of debris. One survivor, Stefanos Gogakos, explained what he experienced from the back of a passenger train car involved in the accident.
“The glass in the windows shattered and fell on top of us,” Gogakos told reporters. “My head hit the roof of the carriage with the jolt. Some people started to climb out through the windows because there was smoke in the carriage. The doors were closed, but in a few minutes, train staff opened them and we got out.”
The rescue crews on the scene have explained that the tangled debris is making the cleanup and rescue efforts much more difficult. It’s hard to find survivors and identify bodies due to the bent and melted sheets of metal that make up the center of the impact zone.
Carnival Celebration Turns to National Mourning
To make matters worse, Greece was in the middle of its annual Carnival celebrations. These festivities occur before Lent and involve numerous festivals and religious observations. This year was the first time Greece had been able to host full Carnival events since the lockdowns in 2020 sent people scrambling to their homes.
Greece’s government has declared that the next three days will be set aside for a national period of mourning. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis vowed to figure out what happened in the accident. “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 stated during a press conference on Wednesday.
