ATHENS: At least 26 people were killed and at least 85 injured when two trains collided in Greece late on Tuesday, the fire brigade said, but the circumstances of the accident were unclear.
A passenger train from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki and a cargo train from Thessaloniki to Larissa collided outside the central Greek city of Larissa, the governor of the Thessaly region said.
Governor Konstantinos Agorastos told JEE News that “the impact was very strong”, adding that the first four carriages of the passenger train derailed, while the first two carriages were “almost completely destroyed”.
About 250 passengers were evacuated safely on buses to Thessaloniki, Agorastos said.
JEE News showed footage of derailed vehicles, badly damaged with broken windows and thick clouds of smoke, as well as debris strewn across the road. Rescue workers were seen carrying torches in vehicles searching for stranded passengers.
“There was panic in the car, people were screaming,” a young man who was evacuated on a nearby bridge told JEE News.
“It was like an earthquake,” another passenger, Angelos Tsimouras, told JEE News.
Early Wednesday, rescue crews were still searching for survivors.
“Given the severity of the collision between the two trains, the evacuation of passengers continues under extremely difficult conditions,” fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Varthakogiannis said in a televised address.
According to local media, around 350 people were traveling in the train.
