Greece: Transport Minister resigns after train accident

TEMPE, Greece (AP) — Rescuers have removed the scorched remains of two trains that collided head-on in northern Greece on Wednesday, killing at least 38 people and turning several carriages into twisted knots of steel.

Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis said he felt “compelled” to resign “as a sign of respect for the people who died so unjustly”.

The cause of the accident near the Tempe Valley, about 235 miles (380 kilometers) north of Athens, was unclear, but police arrested the station chief in the nearby town of Larissa. He did not reveal his name. Two other people were interviewed.

It’s unclear how fast the passenger train and freight train were traveling when they collided just before midnight on Tuesday, but survivors said several passengers were thrown from the windows. Rescuers told public broadcaster ERT they found bodies 30-40 meters (100-130 feet) from the crash site.

PASSENGERS SAY ACCIDENT WAS LIKE AN EXPLOSION A teenager who did not give his name told reporters seconds before the crash that he felt a sharp deceleration and saw sparks, then the train sped is abruptly stopped. “Our car didn’t derail, but those ahead of us did and were destroyed,” he said with a shudder. With a bag, he broke the window of his car, the fourth, and was able to escape. Stefanos Gogakos, who was driving a car behind him, said the crash looked like an explosion and he saw flames ahead of him. “The glass from the windows shattered and fell on us,” he told ERT. “I hit my head on the ceiling. Some came out of the windows because there was smoke in the car. The doors were locked, but shortly after the train staff opened them and we walked out. went out.” Several cars derailed and at least one caught fire. Temperatures reached 1,300 degrees Celsius (2,372 degrees Fahrenheit), making it even more difficult to identify those inside,” fire department spokesman Vassilis Varthakoyiannis said.

DESTRUCTION HINDERS RESCUE On Wednesday, rescuers used cranes and heavy machinery to remove large pieces of train cars, only to find more bodies and dismembered remains. “There were a lot of large pieces of steel,” said neighbor Vassilis Polyzos, who was one of the first people on the scene. “The trains were totally destroyed, passengers and freight.” First responder Lazaros Sarianidis told ERT that crews were looking “very carefully” to separate the pieces of steel and other metals. “It will take a long time,” he said. Firefighters said there were 76 people in hospital, including six in intensive care. More than 200 uninjured or slightly injured people were bused to Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the north. The police took their names to try to find any missing persons. Eight railway workers were killed in the accident, including the two drivers of the freight train and the two drivers of the passenger train, said the president of the railway workers’ union, Yannis Nitsas.

GREECE, FROM CARNIVAL TO MOURNING Among the 350 passengers on the train were students returning from celebrating Carnival, the authorities said. It was the first time that Carnival, which precedes Lent, has been fully celebrated since the start of the pandemic in 2020. The government has declared three days of national mourning, and flags have been flown at half-mast in front of buildings in the European Commission in Brussels. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the government must help the injured recover and identify the dead. “I can guarantee one thing: we will find out the causes of this tragedy and we will do everything in our power to ensure that it does not happen again,” Mitsotakis said. President Katerina Sakellaropoulou interrupted a visit to Moldova to go to the scene, where she laid flowers. Pope Francis sent his condolences in a message sent on his behalf by the Vatican Secretary of State to the President of the Greek Episcopal Conference.

___ Patrick Quinn and David Rising contributed reporting from Bangkok. Gatopoulos reported from Athens.