Loss of life toll in Greece practice crash rises to 57

Railway catastrophe in Greece, Picture: Achilleas Siras Bob/EPA

Police spokeswoman Constantia Timoglidu instructed a press convention that 48 injured individuals have been nonetheless in hospital, six of them in intensive care.

After a freight practice collided with a passenger practice, heavy gear was dropped at the scene to extricate the our bodies of the victims from the crushed wagons. Hellenic Hearth Service spokesperson Janis Artopios mentioned rescue operations have been progressing inch by inch.

We see extra our bodies there; “Sadly, they’re in very unhealthy form,” Artobios mentioned, as quoted by the Related Press.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis mentioned the collision between the 2 trains was “the worst accident within the nation’s historical past” and was “primarily attributable to human error”.

Greek police arrested a station grasp from Larissa. Officers mentioned he was suspected of inflicting demise and grievous bodily hurt by negligence. The person has pleaded not responsible, claiming that the rushing trains collided because of a technical fault.

After the catastrophe, Greek railway staff’ unions started a strike on Thursday, halting the operation of the nation’s railways and the Athens metro. The railway staff are protesting working circumstances and an “alarming lack of modernization of the railway system”, attributable to a scarcity of funding within the sector through the deep monetary disaster that rocked Greece for a lot of the earlier decade.

“Sadly, our long-standing calls for for full-time employment, higher coaching and, above all, the implementation of latest security methods all the time find yourself within the tank,” the Greek Railway Staff Union mentioned in an announcement.

Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis has resigned and his successor shall be tasked with conducting an impartial investigation into the reason for the crash. (PAB)
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