According to the Greek Fire Service, the collision between a passenger train carrying more than 350 people and a freight train on Tuesday, February 28, just before midnight in Tempi Greece, close to the city of Larissa, resulted in at least 32 fatalities and more than 85 injuries.
“There was just a bang,” As we were able to evacuate, the (train) vehicle was spinning sideways before coming to a stop, one male passenger told the Greek national channel ERT.
Another passenger recalled the ten terrifying seconds of fire, saying that it was difficult to see anything due to the smoke.
The first two passenger train compartments are the main focus of recovery efforts, according to the Greek Fire Service. There will probably be more fatalities.
Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, was where the passenger train was headed from Greece’s capital Athens. The crash happened after a national celebration that took place over the weekend and finished with a holiday on Monday.
Pictures on Greece’s state-owned public television ERT showed tumbling carriages spewing thick plumes of smoke, with a long line of emergency vehicles nearby.
When paramedics escorted shell-shocked passengers away from the scene, rescue personnel with torches searched carriages for survivors.
Also, the pictures revealed a few survivors arriving in Thessaloniki.
A freight train and train IC 62, which had left Athens for Thessaloniki, collided head-on, according to a press release from the Greek railway firm Hellenic Train.
At least 32 people are reported to have been killed and dozens injured after two trains collided in Greece.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 1, 2023
Police said several carriages came off the rails, with at least three of them catching fire
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