Two rail officials were being questioned by police but had not been detained as of Wednesday morning. Some of the passenger carriages exploded in flames from the impact. A passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train in northern Greece early Wednesday, killing 16 people and injuring at least 85, fire officials said. A picture taken with a drone shows firefighters and rescue crews working to extricate passengers from trains after a collision near Larissa city, Greece. Costas Agorastos, the regional governor of the Thessaly area, told Greeces Skai Television the two trains collided head on at high speed. Visiting the accident scene, Prime Minister Mitsotakis said the government must help the injured recover and identify the dead. Tumbling over, fires, cables hanging, broken windows, people screaming, people trapped.. Television footage showed derailed carriages with cargo containers flipped over and crash debris strewn across a nearby road. At least 32 people have been killed and 85 others injured in a train collision in central Greece. More than 200 people who were unharmed in the crash or suffered minor injuries were transported by bus to Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the north. Others scoured the field with flashlights and checked underneath the wreckage. They said others fought to free themselves after the passenger train buckled, slamming into a field next to the tracks. I feel so sorry for the parents of these kids.. They were looking around, searching; they didnt know where they were.. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also visited the site, pledging to probe the causes of the crash and prevent a recurrence of such a tragedy. Rescuers wearing head lamps worked in thick smoke, pulling pieces of mangled metal from the cars to search for trapped people. Thessaloniki has a large student population. "We are pulling out people alive, injured there are dead. Survivors said several passengers were thrown through the windows of the train cars on impact. Officials said the army had been contacted to assist. Greece train crash: Dozens killed in head-on rail collision north of Athens, A crane, firefighters and rescuers operate after a collision in Tempe near Larissa city, Greece. A 1968 train collision in the ancient coastal city of Corinth killed at least 34 people and injured dozens. "They were looking around, searching; they didn't know where they were.". The collision between a freight train and an oncoming passenger train occurred near Tempe early on Wednesday. Smoke rose from trains as firefighters and rescuers tried to help out the victims after the accident. I consider it a necessary element of our democracy that the citizens of our country trust the political system. Fire service spokesman Vassilis Varthakoyiannis said the evacuation was being carried out under very difficult conditions. A local TV channel reported that some people were still trapped earlier in the morning. Opinion: We are in a new cold war. An emergency government meeting was organised after the crash and Greek health minister Thanos Plevris went to the scene. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. In these 3.5 years, we have made every effort to improve this reality, he said as he announced his resignation. FDA panel recommends first RSV vaccine for adults 60 and older, Biden touts plan to raise taxes on the rich, but its unclear he has support in the House, Eli Lilly announces out-of-pocket cap on insulin at $35 a month, Why are eggs so expensive? At least 32 people have been killed and 85 others injured in a train collision in central Greece. He said some passengers escaped through windows but that after a few minutes, crew members were able to open the doors and let people out. The cause of the collision is not yet known and is being investigated. Greek authorities said they had started identifying victims but did not yet know the exact toll, with at least 194 surviving passengers transferred to Thessaloniki by bus. Police took their names as they arrived, in an effort to track anyone who may be missing. Greece had the highest overall railway fatality rate among 29 countries studied in a 2022 safety report by the European Union Agency for Railways, as well as the seventh-highest passenger fatality rate. Passengers who were on board the train from Athens spoke to local media early on Wednesday morning, describing the frenzied scenes in the aftermath of the crash. Agorastos described the collision on state television as "very powerful" and said it was "a terrible night. Police took their names as they arrived, in an effort to track anyone who may be missing. Others scoured the field with flashlights and checked underneath the wreckage. Many of the approximately 350 people aboard the passenger train were students returning from Greeces raucous Carnival, officials said. The wagon started to spin and then it ended up on its side and we got out. COSTAS KANTOURIS and NICHOLAS PAPHITIS Associated Press, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Some of the injured were taken to hospitals in Larissa, and at least 150 firefighters and dozens of emergency vehicles were dispatched to the crash site. "It was like an earthquake," Angelos Tsiamouras, another passenger, told state broadcaster ERT. Local media said the train left Athens around 7.30 pm local time on Tuesday. Ambulances from several nearby towns were called in to take injured passengers to hospitals, while rescue workers continued to work in the thick smoke. A passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train in northern Greece early Wednesday morning. Nearly 30 people were killed and 85 people were injured after a freight and passenger train collided with each other in Greece. Rescuers are searching wreckage for survivors after 26 people died and at least 85 were injured in a collision between a passenger train and a freight train in central Greece. There was panic in the carriage, people were screaming, a young man who was evacuated to a nearby bridge told SKAI TV. The collision between freight and passenger trains occurred some 235 miles north of Athens and left several cars derailed. At least two train cars appeared to be tipped sideways near the track, while one was severely dented, with gaping windows, as firefighters worked to extricate passengers. Many of the victims were thought to be university students. "We still don't know the exact number of victims, we will investigate the reasons for (the crash) in full transparency," Infrastructure and Transport minister Kostas Karamanlis, in tears, told reporters. TEMPE, Greece A passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train in northern Greece early Wednesday, killing 16 people and injuring at least 85, Fire Service officials said. Regional governor of Thessaly, Kostas Agorastos, said 250 survivors had been evacuated to Thessaloniki on buses. An intercity passenger train collided at high speed with a cargo train outside the city of Larissa. The first four carriages of the passenger train were derailed in the crash, with the first two carriages, which caught fire, almost completely destroyed, Agorastos said. The head of emergency unit in Larissa hospital Apostolos Komnos said most of the victims were young people, in their 20s. TEMPE, Greece -- A passenger train carrying hundreds of people, including many university students returning home from holiday, collided at high speed with an oncoming freight train in a fiery wreck in northern Greece, killing 32 and injuring at least 85, officials said Wednesday. A teenage survivor who did not give his name to reporters said that just before the crash he felt a strong braking and saw sparks then there was a sudden stop. Rescuers are searching through flattened, burned-out carriages for survivors and bodies after a passenger train and a freight train crashed head-on in central Greece. A passenger train travelling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki collided with a freight train outside Larissa just before midnight. A passenger who escaped from the fifth carriage told the television network: "Windows were being smashed and people were screaming". Rescuers wearing head lamps worked in thick smoke, pulling pieces of mangled metal from the cars to search for trapped people. (AP) The incident took place in Tempe, near the north of Athens. "There were many big pieces of steel," said Vassilis Polyzos, a local resident who was one of the first people on the scene. "They were looking around, searching; they didn't know where they were.". Rail operator Hellenic Train said the northbound passenger train to Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city, had about 350 passengers on board. Another two people have been detained for questioning. Please try again later. The bodies are being transferred to the hospitals of Larissa in order to begin the process of recognition and identification, the Fire Brigade said in a statement, per ABC News. This year was the first time the three-day festival, which precedes Lent, was celebrated in full since the start of the pandemic in 2020. Rescuers are searching wreckage for survivors after 26 people died and at least 85 were injured in a collision between a passenger train and a freight train in central Greece. Multiple cars derailed and at least three burst into flames after the collision near Tempe, a small town next to a valley where major highway and rail tunnels are located, some 380 kilometres north of Athens. Rescue workers with high-powered torches were searching through the wreckage for trapped passengers. Greece's federal transport minister said he had submitted his resignation in the wake of the tragedy, calling it "the least he could do to honor the memory of the victims" as he spoke on live television. A teenage survivor who did not give his name told Greek reporters as he got off one of the buses that just before the crash, he felt a strong braking and saw sparks and then there was a sudden stop. The front section of the train was smashed. Wed Mar 1 2023 - 06:16. March 1, 2023 11.14am. Wed Mar 1 2023 - 06:16. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. "Fortunately we were in the penultimate car and we got out alive. Others fought to free themselves after the passenger train buckled and slammedinto a field next to the tracks, some being burnt in the process. A passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train in northern Greece early Wednesday, killing at least 29 people and injuring some 85, Fire Service officials said. "The evacuation process is ongoing and is being carried out under very difficult conditions due to the severity of the collision between the two trains," said Vassilis Varthakoyiannis, a spokesperson for Greece's firefighting service. We just heard a bang the (train) car started spinning, before ending up sideways when we managed to exit, one passenger told Greek public broadcaster ERT, per CNN. Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. I can guarantee one thing: We will find out the causes of this tragedy and we will do all that's in our power so that something like this never happens again, Mitsotakis said. The collision was like a huge earthquake.". They are in very bad condition. 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