Summary

  • At least 43 people have been killed after a passenger train and freight train collided in Greece, in one of the country's worst rail accidents

  • Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said in an address to the nation that it appears the accident was due to "tragic human error"

  • Transport minister Kostas Karamanlis has resigned, saying it's impossible to continue after something so tragic

  • He says he is taking responsibility for the failures of the Greek state

  • The local stationmaster has been charged with manslaughter

  • Rescuers are continuing to search for survivors at the scene near the city of Larissa

Live Reporting

Edited by Siobhan Toman

  1. Carriages almost completely destroyed - governor

    The governor of the Thessaly region, where the train crash took place, has told local media the two trains collided on the same track, according to Reuters news agency.

    Konstantinos Agorastos told Skai TV the crash happened at high speed between a cargo train and an intercity passenger train outside the city of Larissa in central Greece.

    The intercity passenger train had been travelling from Athens to Thessaloniki, he said.

    The regional governor explained the first four carriages of the passenger train were derailed in the crash. He said the first two carriages were "almost completely destroyed" after catching fire.

    "They were travelling at great speed and one (driver) didn't know the other was coming," Agorastos said.

  2. Drone footage shows emergency services on site

    Drone footage sent from near Larissa shows a smoking wreckage after the deadly rail collision - with the emergency services at the scene.

  3. A timeline of events

    • The passenger train was heading to Thessaloniki, having departed Athens at around 19:30 local time yesterday evening (17:30 GMT)
    • Meanwhile, the freight train with which it collided was heading from Thessaloniki to Larissa
    • The fire brigade said it received news of a crash shortly before midnight
    • In its latest update at around 07:15 local time on Wednesday morning, the fire brigade said at least 32 people had died, and dozens of others had been injured

  4. Daylight images arrive from the scene

    These images sent from the scene by the Reuters news agency give a further sense of the scale of destruction near Larissa.

    Rescuers at the scene of a rail crash in GreeceReuters
    Rescuers at the scene of a rail crash in GreeceReuters
    Rescuers at the scene of a rail crash in GreeceReuters

  5. 'Five hours later, we are finding bodies'

    Rescuers who worked through the night to find survivors described tragic scenes as they raced to find survivors.

    "We are pulling out people alive, injured... there are dead," one volunteer rescue worker told state TV. "We are living through a tragedy."

    "I've never seen anything like this in my entire life," another, exhausted rescue worker emerging from the wreckage told AFP news agency.

    "It's tragic. Five hours later, we are finding bodies."

  6. Forty ambulances at the scene

    Many of the passengers were injured. The fire service reports that some 40 ambulances have been at the scene, with paramedics attending to those who are hurt.

    A man is treated at the scene by a paramedicReuters
    A man at the scene wrapped in a blanketEPA
    a woman is treated by a paramedic at the sceneReuters

  7. Cranes and special lifting equipment deployed

    It's not yet clear what caused the crash, but we do know that a passenger train said to have been carrying some 350 passengers hit a freight train.

    Speaking on state television, Costas Agorastos, the regional governor of the Thessaly region, said the impact was “very powerful”.

    “The front section of the train was smashed," he said. "We’re getting cranes to come in and special lifting equipment to clear the debris and lift the rail cars.

    "There’s debris flung all around the crash site.”

    Map of Greece

  8. 'A nightmarish ten seconds'

    Passengers who survived the crash have described the moment of impact and how they escaped the train.

    "We heard a big bang," Stergios Minenis told Reuters news agency.

    "It was a nightmarish ten seconds. We were turning over in the carriage until we fell on our sides and until the commotion stopped.

    "Then there was panic. Cables, fire. The fire was immediate. As we were turning over we were being burned. Fire was right and left. For ten, fifteen seconds it was chaos.

    "Tumbling over, fires, cables hanging, broken windows, people screaming, people trapped. It was two metres high from where we jumped to leave [the train], and beneath there was broken iron debris, but what could we do?"

  9. Aerial pictures show extent of destruction

    A picture taken with a drone shows firefighters and rescue crews working to extricate passengers from trains after a collision near Larissa city, Greece, 01 March 2023.EPA
    A view of the site of a crash, where two trains collided, near the city of Larissa, Greece,reu
    Firefighters operate at the site of a crash, where two trains collided, near the city of Larissa, Greece, March 1, 2023.Reuters

  10. Greece wakes up to harrowing news of rail disaster

    Greeks are waking up to the aftermath of a deadly crash involving two trains in the north of the country on Tuesday evening.

    At least 32 people died and dozens more were injured after a passenger service collided with a freight train near the city of Larissa.

    Rescuers worked through the night to try to free survivors.

    It is not yet known what caused the crash.

    Stay with us as we bring you live updates.