32 Killed And 85 Injured In Passenger Train Collision With Cargo In Greece

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Tony Webster)

JAKARTA - Two trains collided in Greece, leaving at least 32 people dead and injuring 85 others late Tuesday, firefighters said, but the cause of Greece's deadliest train accidents in decades remains unclear.

An intercity passenger train traveling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki collided with a cargo train outside Larissa City in central Greece, the Governor of Thessally Region said.

The impact caused a fire in a number of passenger cars, causing many passengers to be rushed to the hospital.

"We heard a big explosion, (it's) 10 seconds of nightmare," said Stergios Minenis, a 28-year-old passenger who jumped into a safe place from the rubble.

"Our carriage skidded until we fell tilted... then there was panic, the cable ( everywhere) caught fire, the fire immediately started, when we overturned we were on fire, the fire was on the right and left," he continued.

Regional Governor Thessaly Konstantinos Agorastos told SKAI TV the first four passenger carriages skidded in the accident, while the first two carriages, which caught fire, were "nearly completely destroyed".

He said the two trains drove towards each other on the same track.

"They were traveling at high speed and one (driver) didn't know the other was coming," said the governor.

About 250 passengers were safely evacuated to Thessaloniki by bus. A passenger told ERT he managed to escape after breaking the train window with his suitcase.

"There was panic in the carriage, people shouted," said a young man who was evacuated to the nearest bridge to SKAI TV.

"It was like an earthquake," said Angelos Tsiamorus, another passenger, to the ERT.

SKAI broadcaster showed footage of a derailed carriage, badly damaged with broken windows and thick smoke, as well as debris strewn across the road. Rescue workers were seen carrying torchs in carriages looking for trapped passengers.

"The evacuation of passengers is in very difficult condition, given the severity of the collision of the two trains," Firefighter Vassilis Varthakogiannis said in a televised address.

In the early hours of Wednesday, footage of the ERT broadcast station showed rescue workers with lights shaking to search for survivors in the rubble and surrounding fields.

"We are living in a tragedy. We are pulling people alive, injured... some are dead. We will be here all night, until we are finished, until we find the last person," a rescue volunteer told ERT.

Meanwhile, local media reported about 350 people traveling on a passenger train, which departed from Athens at around 19.30 local time. Meanwhile, the cargo train is on its way from Thessaloniki to Larissa.

The fire department said it had been notified of the accident shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

This accident is known as the deadliest train accident. Previously, 19 people died when two trains collided outside Larissa in 1972.

Meanwhile, the Greek railway system, which is said to be old, needs to be modernized with many trains running on a single line, with an automatic signaling and control system still having to be installed in many areas.