Greece admits ‘failures’ after train crash
THE Greek government yesterday acknowledged failures in state management of its rail system, following a train collision that killed 48 and has triggered angry protests.
As crews continued to work in the charred wreckage at the crash site, the local station master admitted negligence in Greece’s worst-ever rail disaster and the government has apologised. An investigation would examine the “chronic delays in implementing railway works, delays caused by chronic public sector malaise and decades of failure”, said government spokesperson Yiannis Economou.
The crash happened late on Tuesday when a freight and passenger train were allowed to speed towards each other for several kilometres before colliding near a tunnel outside Larissa in central Greece.
The 59-year-old station manager was arrested after officials determined “human error” was involved in the collision in which two carriages were demolished and a restaurant car caught fire, trapping many victims inside.
Five years after state-owned Greek rail operator Trainose was privatised and sold to Italy’s Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane and became Hellenic Train, safety systems on the Athens-Thessaloniki line are still not fully automated.
Train unionists have said safety shortcomings for the Athens-Thessaloniki railway line had been known for years.
The country’s transport minister, Giorgos Gerapetritis, resigned on Wednesday amid claims that safety warnings on the line had been neglected for years, and his replacement yesterday offered his “apologies” to families of the victims and vowed a “complete evaluation of the political system and the state”.
The fire department said rescue crews had worked all night in search for survivors, but chances of finding more were dwindling.
After visiting the site on Wednesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said “Everything shows that the drama was, sadly, mainly due to a tragic human error”.
Passengers described scenes of horror and chaos from the crash, many dodging smashed glass and debris as the train keeled over, and breaking windows to climb out The train’s restaurant car erupted in flames after the collision, with temperatures inside reaching 1 300°C, the fire department said. For hours after the crash it was not immediately clear how many people were on board, complicating efforts to determine how many are missing.
Roubini Leontari, the chief coroner at Larissa’s general hospital, said yesterday that more than 10 people were still unaccounted for, including two Cyprus nationals.
TV footage from the wreck site showed a crane lifting the mangled remains of a carriage, under which a body was believed to be trapped.
Many bodies were charred beyond recognition and some victims were being identified only from their remains. Seventeen biological samples have been collected from remains, and from 23 relatives seeking a match, the police said.
Angry demonstrators rallied outside the Athens office of Hellenic Train on Wednesday evening, as police used tear gas to disperse protesters who threw rocks at the building.