TEMPE, Greece — A passenger practice collided with an oncoming freight practice in northern Greece early on Wednesday, killing 26 folks and injuring not less than 85, officers from Greece’s Fireplace Service stated.
A number of practice automobiles derailed and not less than three caught fireplace after the crash close to Tempe, about 235 miles north of Athens. Hospital officers within the close by metropolis of Larissa stated not less than 25 folks had severe accidents.
“The evacuation course of is ongoing and is being carried out underneath very troublesome circumstances as a result of severity of the collision between the 2 trains,” Vassilis Varthakoyiannis, a Fireplace Service spokesman, stated. Hospital items used to deal with burn victims had been alerted within the space, he stated, including that dozens of ambulances have been concerned within the rescue effort.
Rescuers sporting head lamps labored in thick smoke, pulling items of mangled sheet steel from the crashed rail automobiles to seek for trapped folks.
“It was a really highly effective collision. This can be a horrible night time,” Costas Agorastos, the regional governor of the central Thessaly space, informed state-run tv. “The entrance part of the practice was smashed.”
The governor added that cranes and “particular lifting gear” have been coming in to clear the particles and raise the rail automobiles. “There’s particles flung throughout the crash website,” he stated.
Authorities officers stated the military had been contacted to help within the rescue. Hellenic Practice, a rail operator, stated the passenger practice, northbound from Athens to the northern metropolis of Thessaloniki, had about 350 passengers on board when the collision occurred.
