Twenty-six people died and at least 85 were seriously injured after two trains collided head-on in Greece on Tuesday, February 28, the fire brigade said.
As Reuters reports, an intercity passenger train travelling from Athens to the Northern city of Thessaloniki collided with a cargo train outside the city of Larissa in central Greece, said the governor of the Thessaly region.
The incident caused a fire in a number of the passenger carriages, burning many commuters who were rushed to hospitals.
“We heard a big bang, 10 nightmarish seconds,” said Stergios Minenis, a 28-year-old passenger who jumped to safety from the wreckage.
Thessaly regional governor Konstantinos Agorastos told SKAI TV that the first Four carriages of the passenger train were derailed in the crash, while the first two carriages, which caught fire, were almost completely destroyed.
About 250 passengers were evacuated safely to Thessaloniki on buses. One passenger told the state broadcaster (ERT) that he managed to escape narrowly after breaking the train window with his suitcase.
“There was panic in the carriage, people were screaming in a loud tone,” a young man who was evacuated to a nearby bridge told SKAI TV.
The Media outlet (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.
The rescue workers were seen carrying torches in carriages looking for trapped passengers.
“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.
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In the early hours of Wednesday, footage from state broadcaster ERT showed rescue workers with headlights searching the wreckage and surrounding fields for survivors.
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“We are living through a tragedy. We are pulling out people alive, injured there are dead. We are going to be here all night until we finish until we find the last person,” a volunteer rescue worker told ERT state broadcaster.
Local media reported about 350 people were on board, which departed Athens around 7.30 pm (0530 GMT). The fire brigade said it was informed of the accident shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The cargo train had been travelling from Thessaloniki to Larissa.
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