Greece train crash: Angry protests erupt after disaster

1 year ago 62
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Watch: Rescuers hunt wreckage of deadly Greece bid crash

By Nick Beake successful Larissa & Alys Davies successful London

BBC News

Protests person erupted successful Greece implicit the obstruction clang which killed 43 people, with galore seeing it arsenic an mishap that had been waiting to happen.

Rioters clashed with constabulary extracurricular the office of Hellenic Train successful Athens - the institution liable for maintaining Greece's railways.

Protests were besides held successful Thessaloniki and the metropolis of Larissa, adjacent wherever the catastrophe happened connected Tuesday night.

The authorities has said an autarkic probe volition present justice.

Three days of nationalist mourning person been declared crossed the state pursuing the incident, successful which a rider work crashed caput connected into a freight train, causing the beforehand carriages to burst into flames.

The beforehand carriages of the rider bid were mostly destroyed.

Many of the 350 passengers connected committee were students successful their 20s returning to Thessaloniki aft a agelong play celebrating Greek Orthodox Lent.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said "tragic quality error" was to blasted for the disaster.

A 59-year-old presumption maestro successful Larissa has been charged with manslaughter by negligence. He has denied immoderate wrongdoing, blaming the clang connected a method fault.

Rail national members judge information systems were not moving properly, with repeated warnings astir this implicit galore years.

In protestation and mourning, obstruction workers are readying connected striking connected Thursday astatine what they accidental is authoritative neglect of the railways.

"Pain has turned into choler for the dozens of dormant and wounded colleagues and chap citizens," the workers' national said successful a connection announcing the strike.

"The disrespect shown implicit the years by governments to the Greek railways led to the tragic result," it added successful comments cited by Reuters quality agency.

Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned implicit the disaster, saying helium would instrumentality work for the authorities' "long-standing failures" to hole a railway strategy helium said was not acceptable for the 21st Century.

But extracurricular a infirmary wherever bodies of the bid crash's victims were being brought, a banner was hung claiming that immoderate systemic failings would beryllium covered up successful the authoritative probe present nether way.

At a soundless vigil successful Larissa connected Wednesday to commemorate the victims of the incident, 1 demonstrator said helium felt the catastrophe had lone been a substance of time.

"The obstruction web looked problematic, with worn down, severely paid staff," Nikos Savva, a aesculapian pupil from Cyprus, told AFP quality agency.

The presumption maestro arrested should not wage the terms "for a full ailing system", helium added.

"This is an inadmissible accident. We've known this concern for 30 years," a doc based successful Larissa, Costas Bargiotas, told AFP.

A vigil was besides held successful Athens, extracurricular the offices of Hellenic Train. Later successful the day, things turned convulsive successful the aforesaid area, with constabulary utilizing teardrop state to disperse protesters who threw stones and lit fires successful the streets.

At the tract of the country's worst ever bid crash, rescuers yet again worked done the night.

Families person been arriving astatine a adjacent infirmary to springiness DNA samples truthful that their missing loved ones whitethorn beryllium identified.

But this volition go an progressively hard process arsenic much remains are retrieved of those who were astatine the beforehand of the rider bid and who bore the afloat unit of the head-on collision and the occurrence that past ripped done their carriages.

Fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Varthakogiannis said temperatures wrong the archetypal carriage had reached 1,300C (2,370F), which made it "hard to place the radical who were inside".

Image source, AFP

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People lit candles and laid flowers extracurricular the railway presumption successful Larissa connected Wednesday

Image source, Getty Images

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Protesters gathered extracurricular the offices of Hellenic Train successful Athens

Image source, Getty Images

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Candles were lit extracurricular the offices successful Athens

Image source, AFP

Image caption,

Protesters clashed with constabulary extracurricular the Hellenic Train office successful Athens

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