Two trains collide in Greece, at least 36 killed

A passenger train and a freight train collided head-on in Greece on Tuesday night, killing at least 36 people and injuring dozens as the country’s deadliest train crash in living memory derailed entire coaches.
A fire department official said the death toll was likely to rise further. The official said 66 of the injured have been hospitalised, of whom six are in intensive care. The accident happened when the passenger train came out of the tunnel. The site was badly damaged, with derailed coaches, broken windows, and thick plumes of smoke.
One passenger carriage was standing on its side at approximately 90 degrees to the rest of the train, while the other derailed carriages were precariously inclined. Passenger Stergios Minenis, 28, said, “There was panic … the fire was immediate; we were burning as soon as we turned over, and the fire was right and left.”
A passenger who escaped from the fifth bogie told Sky TV: “Windows were being smashed and people were screaming… A window was shattered by the impact of the iron from the other train.”
According to data from Hellenic Trains, there were 342 passengers and 10 crew on the passenger train, while two crew were on the cargo train. Many people were taken to Thessaloniki, where a woman rushed to hug her daughter as she got off the bus with other survivors.
“No mom, I’m hurt,” said the daughter. Another woman waiting there said that her child was not picking up the call. Apostolos Komanos, head of the emergency unit at Larissa Hospital, said most of the dead were young people in their 20s.
Many travelers will be returning home after a long holiday weekend marking the start of the Greek Orthodox Lent. Thessaloniki has a large student population.