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Athens: protests after train crash
Photo: IMAGO/Michalis Karagiannis / Eurokinissi / IMAGO/ANE Edition
Protests have broken out in Greece after the deadliest train accident in the country's history.
According to the Reuters news agency, around a thousand people gathered in front of the headquarters of the Greek railway (Hellenic Train) in Athens on Wednesday evening.
There were therefore minor clashes with the police when some of the demonstrators threw stones at the offices and set garbage containers on fire.
The police reportedly used tear gas.
Nothing was known about arrests or injuries.
In the city of Larisa near the site of the accident, people also demonstrated on Wednesday evening against the poor state of the Greek railway network.
People held up signs like "Privatization kills."
At the same time, flowers were laid in front of the city's train station and candles were lit to commemorate the victims.
On the route between the capital Athens and the port city of Thessaloniki, two trains collided head-on on Tuesday evening shortly before midnight near the city of Larisa.
According to official figures, at least 42 people were killed and dozens more were injured.
However, several people are still missing.
"The operation to free trapped people continues," said fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis.
The rescue and salvage work was "very difficult," said Konstantinos Giannakopoulos from the doctors' union in Larisa.
Some of the 500 emergency services tried to get into the crushed wagons with metal shears.
Two large cranes lifted the wrecks lying next to the railway line.
Regional governor Kostas Agorastos said on Skai that the death toll will probably be "very high" in the end.
The locomotives and the first cars of both trains were almost completely destroyed by the collision, both drivers are among the dead.
Several wagons fell off the tracks and some caught fire.
According to consistent reports, the victims are mainly young people.
Many had come from the long weekend after a holiday and were on their way to the university in Thessaloniki.
According to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the cause of the accident was probably a "tragic human error".
The station master, who was responsible for the train station in the city of Larisa in central Greece on Tuesday evening, is said to have admitted to having set the points wrong.
The passenger train with around 350 people on board is said to have ended up on a track on which the freight train was coming.
The 59-year-old is accused of negligent homicide.
He is due to testify in court this Thursday.
But that should not be the end of the investigation.
Shortly after the serious accident, rail workers and their unions criticized that the electronic control system on the route between Athens and Thessaloniki had not been working for some time.
Therefore, the station masters are responsible for coordinating the trains practically by hand.
In a speech to the country, Prime Minister Mitsotakis assured the people on Wednesday evening that the circumstances of the accident would be fully clarified.
An independent, non-partisan commission should clarify why the necessary modernization of the Greek railways has failed to materialize in recent years.
"Don't carry on as if nothing happened"
Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned on Wednesday.
"When something so tragic happens, we can't carry on as if nothing happened," Karamanlis said.
He feels obliged to take responsibility for the mistakes of the Greek state.
That was the least to show respect to the families of the victims, he justified the step.
As recently as February, railway employees had pointed out in an open letter that the safety systems for the tracks were incomplete and poorly maintained.
A safety inspector resigned last year, warning that train travel at speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour on the route was dangerous due to incomplete safety upgrades.
Railway workers across the country went on a 24-hour strike in protest at the ailing condition of the Greek railways.
Two of the three metro lines in Athens are also on strike, as reported by several media.
wit/dpa/Reuters/AFP/AP