At least 32 people killed and 85 injured in Greece train crash
At least 32 people died and 85 were injured Tuesday night in a collision between a cargo ship and a train carrying 350 passengers, fire officials said. The death toll appears to be provisional, local authorities said, with rescue operations still under way. According to the Greek press, quoted by Digi24, this is "the worst rail accident Greece has ever seen".
Approximately 150 firefighters as well as 40 ambulances were mobilised, Greek rescue services said. Cranes and mechanics were also deployed to try to remove debris and lift overturned wagons.
"Most of the passengers were taken to safety," the fire department spokesman pointed out. "Operations are ongoing to free those trapped inside and are taking place in difficult conditions due to the heavy collision of the two trains," according to the source.
One of the carriages caught fire and several people were trapped inside, according to public television station ERT. Speaking to SKAI television, the region's governor, Kostas Agorastos, told the station that "more than 250 passengers have been transferred by bus to Thessaloniki," the country's second city in the north.
"Unfortunately, the number of injured and dead is likely to be high," he warned.
A crisis meeting of the government Minister of Health was held. Thanos Plevris, went to the scene, while Interior Minister Takis Theodorikakos is overseeing the situation at the crisis management centre with police and fire chiefs.
The two hospitals in the Larissa region have been requisitioned to receive the many injured, according to Greek firefighters. Military hospitals in Thessaloniki and Athens are also "on standby" in case of need, they stressed.
