Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ATHENS: At least 26 people were killed and 85 others wounded after two trains collided head-on in Thessaly in Greece on Tuesday night.
Thessaly Governor Konstantinos Agorastos said that the intercity passenger train travelling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki struck with the cargo train outside the city of Larissa in central Greece.
“The collision was powerful,” Agorastos told SKAI TV, adding the first four carriages of the train passenger had derailed. He said the first two carriages, which caught fire after the collision, were “almost destroyed.”
250 train passengers evacuated safely
About 250 train passengers were evacuated safely to Thessaloniki on buses. One passenger told state broadcaster ERT that he escaped with his suitcase after breaking the train window.
“There was panic in the carriage, and citizens were screaming,” a young man evacuated to a nearby bridge told SKAI TV.
“It was like the earthquake,” Angelos Tsiamouras, another train passenger, told ERT.
Broadcaster SKAI showed images of derailed carriages, damaged with broken train windows and thick plumes of smoke, and debris strewn across the road. Rescue employees were seen carrying torches in carriages looking for trapped passengers.
Local media said about 350 citizens were travelling on the passenger train. The fire brigade said that it was informed of the accident shortly before a late night on Tuesday. A cargo train had been travelling from Thessaloniki to Larissa.
The train was operated by the Italian group Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane. According to its website, it is the primary provider of rail transport for train passengers and freight in Greece and runs 342 passenger and commercial routes a day.
