Sunday, October 13, 2024

Carnage after trains collide near the Greek city of Larissa

At least 32 people have been killed and dozens injured after two trains collided in northern Greece, emergency services say.

A train carrying around 350 passengers collided with an oncoming freight train near Larissa on Tuesday night.

Rescuers continued to search for survivors throughout the night, the fire department said.

The cause of the accident is unknown.

A passenger train traveling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki collided head-on with another train, setting at least one carriage on fire.

A survivor described how the vehicle he was in burst into flames as it rolled following the crash.

“We heard a big explosion,” passenger Stergios Menenis said, according to Reuters news agency.

“It was a nightmare for 10 seconds. We were turning in the carriage until we fell on our sides and the commotion stopped. Then there was panic. Cables, fire, fire was immediate. As we turned we were burned. Fire right and left,” said Mr Menenis.

“For 10, 15 seconds it was chaos. Falling down, fire, hanging cables, broken windows, people screaming, people trapped.”

Another passenger, Angelos Chiamouras, told local media that the crash felt like an earthquake.

“It’s a very powerful conflict,” regional governor of Thessaly region Kostas Agorastos told state-run television.

“It was a terrible night…the scene is hard to describe.”

Footage of the aftermath of the collision showed thick smoke billowing from the derailed carriages. At least one of them was completely crushed.

Fire service spokesman Vassilis Tradoyannis told reporters that conditions for rescue workers were “extremely difficult” due to the “intensity of the conflict”.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. It’s tragic. Five hours later, we’re finding bodies,” an exhausted rescuer told AFP news agency.

“We are living through a tragedy. We are pulling out the living, the wounded… there are the dead. We are going to be here all night, until we finish, until we find the last person,” another volunteer rescue worker told ERT. state broadcaster in comments quoted by Reuters.

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