Greece: a train accident leaves 32 dead and 85 injured

TEMPE, Greece (AP) — At least 32 people have been killed and 85 injured in northern Greece after a train carrying hundreds of passengers crashed into a high-speed freight train, officials said Wednesday. authorities.

Several rail cars derailed and at least three caught fire after the collision occurred before midnight on Tuesday near the town of Tempe. Rescuers lit the scene with searchlights before dawn on Wednesday as they frantically searched for survivors among the twisting, smoldering debris.

Survivors said several passengers were thrown from the windows of the train by the force of the impact. Others struggled to free themselves after the passenger train skidded off the track and crashed into a field near a cliff about 235 miles (380 kilometers) north of Athens.

“There were a lot of big pieces of steel,” said Vassilis Polyzos, a local resident and one of the first to arrive on the scene. “Trains were totally destroyed, both passenger and freight trains.”

When he arrived, he explained, there were disoriented people coming out of the rear carriages of the train.

“People were naturally scared, very scared,” he said. “They were looking around, looking. They didn’t know where they were.”

The trains collided just before the Tempe Valley, a gorge that separates the regions of Thessaly and Macedonia. Costas Agorastos, the regional governor of Thessaly, told Greek television Skai that the two trains collided head-on at high speed.

“Wagons one and two no longer exist, and the third has derailed,” he explained.

Officials at a hospital in the nearby town of Larissa said at least 25 of those injured were seriously injured.

“The evacuation process is underway and is taking place in very difficult conditions due to the seriousness of the collision between the two trains,” said Vassilis Varthakoyiannis, spokesman for the fire department.

The cause of the crash was initially unclear. Two railway agents were questioned by the police but had not been arrested.

Passengers with minor injuries or no injuries were taken by bus to the city of Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the incident. Police took their names when they arrived in an effort to search for missing persons.

After getting off one of the buses, a teenager who declined to be identified by name told Greek reporters that shortly before the crash he felt hard braking and saw sparks flying, then the train suddenly stopped.

“Our car did not derail, but those in front did, and they were destroyed,” he said, visibly shaken.

He said the first carriage caught fire and he escaped using a backpack to smash a window of the carriage he was traveling in, the fourth.

Rail operator Hellenic Train said the passenger train from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki had around 350 passengers on board when the accident happened.

“It was a very strong fall. It’s a terrible night… It’s hard to describe the scene,” Agorastos, the governor of Thessaly, told state television.

“The front part of the train has been destroyed… We are bringing cranes and special equipment to remove the rubble and lift the wagons. There is debris strewn all over the crash site,” he added.

Government officials said the military had been called in to help with the rescue.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This dispatch has been corrected to indicate that the crash occurred on Tuesday before midnight, not Wednesday.

___ Gatopoulos brought back from Athens.