For two days, Greeks have been taking to the streets against the government after the train accident that killed 57 people. They demand responsibility for railway safety.
After the shock, the anger. The accident between two trains from Thessaloniki and Athens, which killed 57 people on Tuesday, March 28, sparked lively controversy in Greece, according to a preliminary police report. If the station master at the origin of the bad reprimand, near Larissa, admitted a “mistake” by running two trains on the same track, many criticisms are now directed at the Greek government for its management of train safety. The government spokesman also acknowledged regular outages in the rail system.
>> Train accident in Greece: After the tragedy, anger at a dilapidated rail network
In the north of the country, the families of the victims are still looking for their children among the missing and describe the total chaos without help. “My boys are still looking for my daughter in the hospitals to see if she’s being thrown in the corner, if she’s still alive,” explains an annoyed father. I let her look, I know that my little girl, we’re going give it back to me in a box”.
Temperatures up to 1,300 degrees
The accident happened on Tuesday, March 28, around 11:30 p.m. (local time) near the Tempe Valley: a passenger train connecting Athens with Thessaloniki, the second largest city in the country, collided head-on with a cargo convoy going the opposite direction took. The first carried 342 passengers, including a large number of students returning from a long weekend.
According to the initial findings of the investigation, the two trains were on the same track. The impact destroyed the two locomotives and caused the derailment of the first three cars of the passenger train, which were pulverized by the force of the impact. A fire then broke out in the dining car, with temperatures of up to 1,300 degrees, according to the Greek fire brigade.
And the anger continues to mount: On Thursday, a strike by railway workers paralyzed the Greek rail network as demonstrations intensified. In Thessaloniki, nearly 2,000 people demonstrated before Molotov cocktails were thrown. In Athens, stones were thrown in front of the country’s train stations and the offices of Hellenic Train, the company bought by Italian investors believed to be partly responsible for the deadly train crash. New demonstrations are still expected to take place across the country on Friday, March 3.
The Greeks are calling for a transparent investigation to determine who is really responsible for this tragedy. Trains will be halted on Friday for the second straight day in protest and mourning. Checks are planned to check the state of the public transport security system, particularly the RER going to the airport, which unions say is missing.