26 Killed, 85 Injured as Trains Collide in Greece Train

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Twenty-six people have been killed and 85 others injured after two trains collided in Greece late yesterday, the fire brigade said, while the circumstances of the crash remained unclear.

A passenger train traveling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki, and a cargo train from Thessaloniki to Larissa, collided outside the city of Larissa in central Greece, said the governor of the Thessaly region.

“The collision was very strong,” governor Konstantinos Agorastos told SKAI TV, adding the first four carriages of the passenger train had derailed, while the first two carriages were “almost completely destroyed”.

“It was a very powerful collision. This is a terrible night… It’s hard to describe the scene.

“The front section of the train was smashed… We’re getting cranes to come in and special lifting equipment clear the debris and lift the rail cars. There’s debris flung all around the crash site.”

At 2 am, it was reported the death toll had risen to 26. 

Agorastos said about 250 passengers were evacuated safely to Thessaloniki on buses, but that more than a dozen were killed and dozens more sustained serious injuries.

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

“There was panic in the carriage, people were screaming,” a young man who was evacuated to a nearby bridge told SKAI TV.

“It was like an earthquake,” Angelos Tsiamouras, another passenger, told ERT.

In the early hours of today, rescue crews were still searching for survivors.

Local media reported about 350 people were traveling on the train.

“The evacuation of passengers is underway in very difficult conditions given the severity of the collision of the two trains,” fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Varthakogiannis said in a televised address.