Greece train crash: What we know so far

Two trains person collided successful bluish Greece, sidesplitting astatine slightest 36 radical and injuring dozens of others. Here's what we cognize astir the incidental truthful far.

A rider work carrying immoderate 350 radical crashed with a freight bid soon aft leaving Larissa conscionable earlier midnight connected Tuesday.

The incidental happened arsenic the rider bid emerged from a passageway successful the municipality of Tempi.

The archetypal 4 carriages of the rider bid were derailed, and the archetypal 2 caught occurrence and were "almost wholly destroyed", Thessaly determination politician Kostas Agorastos says.

The nonstop fig of casualties is unclear, but Greek quality reports accidental astatine slightest 36 radical person died and dozens much person been injured, immoderate of them seriously.

A study by the Greek nationalist broadcaster ERT said members of the rider train's unit were among the dead. It said astir of the casualties had been recovered from the 3rd carriage, which was derailed.

A hunt is continuing of the wreckage of the archetypal 2 carriages involving 150 firefighters, utilizing 17 vehicles and 4 cranes. Forty ambulances are connected the scene.

Elli Kasholi, a writer who is astatine the country told the BBC that 20-25 radical are inactive missing aft the clang but immoderate of these whitethorn beryllium radical who near the country without being accounted for.

The rider bid progressive was astir two-thirds afloat with galore young people, Reuters quality bureau reports, citing eyewitnesses.

It was travelling from Athens to Thessaloniki, which has a sizeable pupil population, and it's believed galore would person been returning determination aft a vacation for Greek Orthodox lent.

The city's pupil associations are calling for a afloat probe with nary "cover-up".

The freight bid was heading from Thessaloniki to Larissa.

It is inactive unclear what caused the clang but the determination politician says the 2 services were moving connected the aforesaid track.

A section presumption master, based astatine Larissa which the rider bid had passed through, has been arrested. Police accidental the 59-year-old has been charged with manslaughter by negligence and grievous bodily harm by negligence.

The presumption master, who is successful complaint of signalling, denies wrongdoing and has blamed the mishap connected a imaginable method failure.

Rail unions accidental determination person been long-running problems with the physics systems that are expected to pass drivers of information ahead.

"Nothing works. Everything happens manually passim the Athens-Thesaloniki network. Neither the indicators, nor the postulation lights, nor the physics postulation power work," bid drivers' relation president Kostas Genidounias told ERT.

Some survivors person described the infinitesimal the trains collided arsenic similar an earthquake.

"We heard a large bang," said 28-year-old rider Stergios Minenis, who jumped to information from the wreckage.

"We were turning implicit successful the carriage until we fell connected our sides and until the commotion stopped. Then determination was panic. Cables, fire. The occurrence was immediate. As we were turning implicit we were being burned. Fire was close and left," Mr Minenis was quoted arsenic saying by Reuters.

"For 10, 15 seconds it was chaos. Tumbling over, fires, cables hanging, breached windows, radical screaming, radical trapped."

Another rider named Lazos told the paper Protothema: "I wasn't hurt, but I was stained with humor from different radical who were injured adjacent me."