Greece

A man is arrested over the collision of a passenger and a freight train in central Greece that has killed at least 36 people and injured dozens.

Officials said the army had been contacted to assist. Before dawn the next day, rescuers searched through twisted, smoking wreckage for survivors. The man has denied any wrongdoing and has attributed the accident to a possible technical failure, the police official said. The 59-year-old station master of a train station in the city of Larissa testified before a prosecutor and was arrested, a government official said. - Authorities say the 59-year-old station master of a train station in the city of Larissa has been arrested A man has been arrested over the collision of a passenger and a freight train in central Greece that has killed at least 43 people and injured dozens, the government and police sources say.

Greek president says 'we are mainly mourning young people' after collision in which 40 have been confirmed dead.

“We need light because we need the cranes because [the debris] is so heavy.” When we realised what had happened, we tried to get out of the wagons, and when we managed that, we saw the chaos.” “It’s unclear if we’ll continue later or with the first light of day,” he told the public broadcaster ERT TV. “I met with relatives of the victims and the missing at the Larissa hospital. The Greek railway system was among an array of public utility companies that were privatised when the debt-stricken country narrowly avoided economic collapse a decade ago. Footage of rescuers rushing to the site of the crash near a gorge about 380km (235 miles) north of Athens in a desperate effort to find survivors amid the mangled wreckage sent a shudder through the nation.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said it appeared the crash was “mainly due to a tragic human error.”

In Athens, several hundred members of left-wing groups marched late Wednesday to protest the train deaths. Minor clashes broke out as some protesters threw stones at the offices of Greece’s rail operator and riot police and set dumpsters on fire. 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. It was the country’s deadliest rail crash on record. “Our carriage didn’t derail, but the ones in front did and were smashed,” he said, visibly shaken. The government declared three days of national mourning from Wednesday, while flags flew at half-staff outside all European Commission buildings in Brussels. Many of the passengers were students returning to Thessaloniki from Carnival, but officials said but no detailed passenger list was available. Emergency workers used cranes and other heavy machinery to move large pieces of the trains, revealing more bodies and dismembered remains. They did not release the man’s name or the reason for the arrest, but the stationmaster is responsible for rail traffic on that stretch of the tracks. The train from Athens to Thessaloniki was carrying 350 passengers, many of them students returning from raucous Carnival celebrations. Authorities arrested the stationmaster at the train’s last stop, in the city of Larissa. Police took their names as they arrived, in an effort to track anyone who may be missing.

Greek communities in Australia issued statements of condolences to Greece after a deadly train crash on Tuesday killed at least 43 people.

He said it appears the crash was “mainly due to a tragic human error.” [The Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA) ](https://www.facebook.com/GreekOrthodoxCommunity/posts/6039753879401297)extended its condolences to the families and victims of the Tempi train disaster and said the Community will lower all Greek flags on its building to half mast “as a sign of respect during the mourning period.” [also issued a statement](https://www.facebook.com/goaaus/posts/197002759678837) on Tuesday and said he was “deeply shocked by the tragic train collision that occurred in our homeland of Greece.” [the Greek Consulates](https://greekherald.com.au/community/welcome-event-held-for-consul-general-of-greece-in-sydney-and-new-greek-trade-commissioner/) have lowered their Greek flags to half mast in memory of the victims of the train crash in Greece. Some were burned beyond recognition, forcing relatives to give DNA samples. [The Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne](https://www.facebook.com/Greekcommunitymelb/posts/235375658860532) also issued a statement on Facebook and said: “our thoughts are with all of you.”

A passenger train, on route from Athens to Thessaloniki, crashed head-on into a freight train shortly before midnight Tuesday, outside the town of Tempe in ...

There have been many warnings that a serious incident could take place as a result of cuts and a failure to implement the required technology. The 27.3 kilometre section of track in which the crash occurred was double-tracked and had automatic controls installed, but switching and signalling were still being controlled manually. This was followed by the newly privatised TrainOSE paying an equally knockdown purchase price of €22 million for the state rolling stock maintenance business EESSTY in 2018. On collision the first four carriages of the passenger train were derailed. Many understand that the causes run much deeper in a society in which basic services and infrastructure have been massively degraded or destroyed over the past 15 years of scorched-earth austerity carried out by successive governments, including SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left). Neither the indicators, nor the traffic lights, nor the electronic traffic control work.” Nikos Tsikalakis, leader of the main rail workers union, told Radio ENA that there are only 750 rail employees nationally, far below the required 2,000 plus. The passenger train was travelling north after leaving Larissa station, and the freight train travelling south from Thessaloniki to Larissa. When the final death toll is made, it could top the 80 people who died in a high-speed derailment in Spain in 2013, after a train overturned near Santiago de Compostela. … Some bodies were completely carbonized and are unrecognizable, for the most part it is young people.” A passenger train, on route from Athens to Thessaloniki, crashed head-on into a freight train shortly before midnight Tuesday, outside the town of Tempe in central Greece. We were turning over in the carriage until we fell on our sides and until the commotion stopped. Many of the around 350 passengers onboard were students returning home to Thessaloniki—Greece’s second city has a large university population—after holidays during Greek Orthodox lent.

The debate about the Parthenon Sculptures is back in the public eye following the news that negotiations between the Greek government and the British ...

Such a deal would be a victory – not only for the historians and classicists of tomorrow, but for the British Museum itself and the image of Global Britain. This deal would be underpinned by a cultural exchange which could see stunning Greek artefacts such as the Mask of Agamemnon displayed in the UK as part of rotating exhibitions, attracting new visitors to the British Museum. Furthermore the Greek government is not seeking the return of the many other Greek artefacts in British museums, but the reunification of this specific collection. But converting this momentum into a deal will require imaginative thinking in order to overcome the impasse. The latest YouGov polling found that a majority of adults in the United Kingdom think we should return the sculptures to Athens. And how do we contest with some of the red lines that have emerged on both sides?