Protests in Greece after the Train Crash in which 43 People Died

Novinite.com
03 Mar 2023, 03:41 GMT+10

Protests in Greece after the serious train accident in which 43 people died. Demonstrators gathered in front of the offices of the Hellenic Train railway company in Athens.

Police used tear gas to disperse protesters who threw stones at law enforcement and set fires in the streets.

In Thessaloniki, angry people gathered in front of the train station. All trains on the routes of the main Greek railway company will not run today due to a 24-hour strike by the Hellenic Federation of Railway Employees.

According to the Greek railwaymen, the bad condition of the railway infrastructure and the government's neglect of the Greek railways are at the root of the tragedy.

The rescue operation continues. The number of dead from the accident may increase - according to data from the fire services, the fate of 19 people is unknown.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pointed to tragic human error as the main cause. Greece is in three days of mourning.

"Dozens of our fellow citizens, most of them young people, lost their lives in a terrible and unprecedented train accident. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the women and men who mobilized from the first moment - the firefighters and rescuers, the Ambulance workers, the police, the local authorities, the doctors, health workers and psychologists in the hospitals. They gave their best under extremely difficult conditions. I met with the relatives of the victims and the missing people in the hospital in Larissa. Experiencing indescribable pain, they asked me: 'Why' and told me : 'Never again'. We owe them an honest answer. Everything points to the fact that, unfortunately, the tragedy was mainly due to tragic human error," said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece, and promised to set up an independent commission to investigate both the causes of the tragedy, as well as the long delay of railway projects.

Some of the victims must be identified by comparison with DNA material provided by their relatives. "Proto Thema" reports that 53 people have donated genetic material so far. A criminal prosecution has been launched against the head of the station in the city of Larissa. Footage from a security camera shows the scale of the impact.

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- /BNT