A train carrying hundreds of passengers collided with an oncoming freight train in northern Greece, killing and injuring dozens passengers. For the second time in three months, a Greece police chief wasinvolved in a crash. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Worst-case scenario: Satellite, rocket body miss collision by only 20 feet, Chilling video shows passenger warning chopper pilot before fatal crash, Recently married couple among 4 killed in Australia chopper horror, NYC woman killed by hit-and-run driver after falling out of boyfriends car. Condolences poured in from around the world, including neighboring Turkey, Greece's historic regional rival. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, Beaming Prince Harry and Meghan enjoy a date night at exclusive $4,200-A-YEAR private members' club in LA - as friend claims they've been left furious over King Charles' 'cruel' decision to evict them from Frogmore Cottage, Biden LAUGHS at claim he was responsible for fentanyl overdoses of two brothers and says they died 'under the previous administration' - after mom's heartbreaking testimony to Congress. 'Shocked by the news and images of the collision of the two trains,' he added. Train debris lies on the rail lines after a collision in Tempe, about 376 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens, near Larissa city, Greece, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Eight rail employees were among the dead, including the two drivers of the freight train and the two drivers of the passenger train, according to Yannis Nitsas, president of the Greek Railroad Workers Union. The cause of the collision was not immediately clear. 'It will be very difficult to find survivors, due to the temperatures that developed in the carriages,' 40-year old rescuer Constantinos Imamidis said. At least 36 people are dead, and another 85 injured, after a passenger train collided with a freight train overnight on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in central Greece. Vasileios Vathrakoyiannis, a spokesman for the fire service, said at a televised briefing that the rescue operation was currently concentrated on the two first carriages of the passenger train, which have overturned.. In 1968, 34 people died in a crash in the southern Peloponnese region. Eight rail employees were among those killed in the crash, including the two drivers of the freight train and the two drivers of the passenger train, according to Greek Railroad Workers Union President Yannis Nitsas. 'When something so tragic happens, we cannot continue as if nothing had happened,' Karamanlis said in a public statement. Carriage one and two no longer exist, and the third has derailed, he said. The media network attributed the problems to unsafe level crossings, poor infrastructure and traffic management systems, and understaffed companies. It has been called Dr. Seuss Day because of this. Scores were injured. At first, a Greece police spokesman said Forsythe swerved to avoid striking a deer crossing the road just north of the Ridgeway Avenue exit. Hopes of finding anyone still alive in the wreckage more than 34 hours later appeared slim. Read Boulevard and Dorsey Road/Vintage Lane. Niki Kitsantonis reported from Tempe, the city nearest to the site of the train collision in Greece, and Jason Horowitz reported from Rome. Temperatures reached 1,300 degrees Celsius (2,372 degrees Fahrenheit), which makes it even more difficult to identify the people who were in it, fire service spokesperson Vassilis Varthakoyiannis said. A teenage survivor who did not give his name to reporters said that just before the crash he felt strong braking and saw sparks then there was a sudden stop. Police took their names as they arrived, in an effort to track anyone who may be missing. Do not sell or share my personal information. Hellenic Train, which operates all of Greece's passenger and cargo trains, including those that collided, offered its "heartfelt condolences" to the victims' families. Emma Bubola contributed reporting from London, and Monika Pronczuk from Brussels. 'It was the train of terror,' Pavlos Aslanidis, whose son is missing along with a friend, told reporters. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/01/world/europe/greece-train-crash.html. The passenger train, carrying around 350 people, crashed head-on with the freight train in Thessaly, Greece, becoming the deadliest railway accident on record in the country. According to New York State Police, Helfer was driving his department-issued vehicle westbound when another driver traveling eastbound passed a driveway and backed up. It could still rise further, The collision between a freight and passenger train occurred near Tempe, some 380 kilometres (235 miles) north of Athens, and resulted in the derailment of several train cars. As Greece sought to process the tragedy, railway workers nationwide walked off the job on Thursday, saying successive governments had ignored repeated demands to improve safety standards. More than 15 others were discharged after receiving treatment. The statement came as a station master responsible for overseeing the stretch of railway near Larissa was arrested and charged with negligible homicide, while the country's transport minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned. Images showed him holding his hands up to his face in disbelief and horror at the scene. All your travel news: our automobile, motorcycle and tyre tips and good deals, routes, traffic updates and road network flashes, motoring services on your route and future innovations. The crash occurred as the passenger train emerged from a tunnel (pictured). The cause of the deadliest rail crash in Greece in decades remains unclear but the PM said it was likely 'tragic human error' Larissa's chief coroner, Roubini Leondari, said 43 bodies had been brought to her for examination and would require DNA identification as they were largely disfigured. Multiple cars derailed and at least three burst into flames after the two trains ran into each other at high speed just before midnight Tuesday, near the town of Tempe in northern Greece. It was not immediately clear what led to the crash, which happened as the passenger train traveled from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki just before midnight on Tuesday. The toll surpassed that of a 1968 collision involving two passenger trains near Corinth, about 40 miles west of Athens, which left 34 people dead. Greece police chief wasinvolved in a crash, pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Carriage 1 and 2 no longer exist, and the third has derailed, Costas Agorastos, the regional governor of the Thessaly area, told the Greek channel Skai Television. That driver then made a left turn in front of westbound traffic in an attempt to reach the driveway. A crane, firefighters and rescuers operate after a collision in Tempe near Larissa city, Greece, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. See you soon! The European Union, of which Greece is a member, has binding rules on rail safety, including on conditions for issuing safety certificates for train companies, an obligation for member nations to set up national railway safety authorities and independent bodies for investigating accidents. Windows were shattering and people were screaming, one survivor of the crash said. A safety supervisor had resigned last year, warning that infrastructure upgrades pending since 2016 were incomplete and that train speeds of up to 200 kilometres (124 miles) an hour were unsafe. 'The collision was like a huge earthquake.'. This number was later revised to say that 38 people had been killed. It was unclear if or how the tragedy would reverberate across the political landscape. 'Windows were being smashed and people were screaming One of the windows caved in from the impact of iron from the other train,' another passenger, who escaped from the fifth carriage, told Skai TV. As 85 people were taken to hospitals with injuries, Mr. Mitsotakis hurried to visit the site and trepidation grew about a rising death toll. (George Kidonas/AP). At least 38 people No other details of the crash have been released. In some cases, passengers are being identified from body parts, volunteer fireman Vassilis Iliopoulos said, warning that the death toll would rise. She told me, Were on fire. Survivors have told of a "nightmarish 10 seconds" as their train carriage overturned and was engulfed in flames in a crash in central Greece. 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Wood was named as the new chief of the Greece Police Departmentthe day Forsythe pleaded guilty. My head hit the roof of the carriage with the jolt," Stefanos Gogakos, who was in a rear car, told state broadcaster ERT. Helfer has been acting as interim chief since Forsythes resignation. Our data illustrates traffic conditions on the road and traffic conditions on the motorways in real time. Weather 0C Monday -4 | -2C Tuesday -7 | -4C Wednesday -9 | -3C But train unionists said the station master was likely a scapegoat as the safety shortcomings of the Athens-Thessaloniki railway line had been known for years. Play it now! GREECE, N.Y. - Greece police say the driver involved in a crash that killed two people on West Ridge Road Saturday night was driving while intoxicated. A passenger train carrying hundreds of people, including many university students returning home from holiday, collided at high speed before midnight Tuesday with an oncoming freight train. public events). Published Feb. 28, 2023 Updated March 1, 2023, 2:25 a.m. The fire service said that there had been two people on the freight train and 342 passengers and 10 railway staff members on the passenger train. Greece, New York 14612-5030 Get Directions Phone: 585-865-9200 Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. Wood will officially be sworn in as chief on January 15th. The union called the one-day strike to protest what it said was chronic neglect of Greeces railways by successive governments. Authorities arrested the stationmaster at the trains last stop, in the city of Larissa. Its unlikely there will be survivors, but hope dies last, rescuer Nikos Zygouris said. Published: 14:46 EST, 1 March 2023 | Updated: 03:48 EST, 2 March 2023. But the crash clearly struck a nerve. Greeces firefighting service said 57 people remained hospitalized late Wednesday, including six in intensive care. Two women, Elisavet, 60, and Georgia, 59, were sitting on the steps outside the hospital awaiting word about their sister, who worked as a ticket inspector and had been on the Athens-Thessaloniki train. At least 38 people are dead in Tempe, Greece after a passenger train carrying hundreds of people struck an oncoming freight train at high speed. 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 fire service spokesperson Vassilis Varthakoyiannis. Some 150 firefighters and 40 ambulances were mobilised for the response, according to Greek emergency services. Government spokesman Yiannis Economou said the two trains were left running on the same track for 'several kilometres'. Smoke rises from trains as firefighters and rescuers operate after a collision near Larissa city, Greece, early Wednesday, March 1, 2023. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Visiting the accident scene, Prime Minister Mitsotakis said the government must help the injured recover and identify the dead. This is indicated in the route summary. Many of the victims were thought to be university students returning home after a long holiday weekend, and officials said the death toll was expected to rise further. Officials said the army had been contacted to assist. Greece, N.Y. Greece, N.Y. - Police are investigating a serious crash on Stone Road on Sunday evening. ViaMichelin routes take into account the impact of road traffic on your journey time. ET. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy. Published Feb. 28, 2023 Updated March 1, 2023, 2:25 a.m. Rescuers operate next to debris of a train, after a crash near the city of Larissa, Greece, on March 1, 2023, At 4am UK time it was reported the death toll had risen to 29. No arrests or injuries were reported. 2023 www.democratandchronicle.com. Angelos Tzortzinis for The New York Times. (Giannis Papanikos/AP), A crane, firefighters and rescuers operate after a collision in Tempe near Larissa city, Greece, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. That was in part because of budget problems and in part because the system was not fully operational to prevent such accidents, the official said. TEMPE, Greece A head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train flattened carriages, killed at least 36 people, and injured some 85, Greek officials said Wednesday. Male birth control gel you rub on your SHOULDERS could be available within a decade as scientists claim trials have gone 'extremely well' - and it might be as good as the Pill! They wont tell us anything, she added, drawing deeply on a cigarette. 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