(UnitedVoice.com) – There are more than 1,000 train accidents in the United States every year. These incidents are under renewed scrutiny in wake of the East Palestine derailment. While Americans try to figure out how to prevent more disasters, another country is in mourning after a train accident of its own.
On Tuesday, February 28, a freight train and a passenger train were both headed down the same track for at least 12 minutes in Greece. Just before midnight, they collided in a deadly crash that occurred in the Tempe Valley. The collision took place at the end of the country’s first carnival holiday in four years. Young people filled the passenger train on its way from Athens to Thessaloniki.
By Thursday, March 2, authorities reported at least 57 people has been pronounced dead. Families of missing people were giving DNA samples at hospitals in the hopes of being able to find their loved ones.
In the aftermath of the crash, police in Larissa arrested a station master, who allegedly directed the trains to the same track. Authorities charged him with “causing grievous bodily harm through negligence” and “causing mass deaths through negligence,” The Washington Post reported.
The latest on the #Greece train crash.
We’re in the city of #Larissa where a 59 yr old station master is appearing in court later charged with manslaughter by negligence.
But many Greeks believe this was an accident waiting to happen – a result of longstanding systemic failings pic.twitter.com/EZpSBOd6hH
— Nick Beake (@Beaking_News) March 2, 2023
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis assured the Greek people that an independent panel is going to take place. The Associated Press reported he said he is going to ensure that an accident like that will “never again” take place. The PM said the accident was caused by “tragic human error.”
Transportation Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned in the wake of the crash, saying the country’s railway system was “not up to 21st-century standards” and though his office has made changes, they weren’t enough.
In addition to the dozens of people who died, more than 80 suffered injuries. Greek authorities still do not know what the exact death toll will be when all is said and done.
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