(Athens) The derailment of a train making the journey between Athens and Thessaloniki, in Greece, caused Tuesday evening “several deaths” and “many injuries” according to the Greek news agency Ana which quotes the relief.
According to the first information communicated by Ana, three wagons derailed at the level of the city of Larissa, in the center of the country, after the collision between a freight train and another convoy carrying 350 passengers.
One of the wagons caught fire and several people were trapped, according to the public television channel Ert.
A massive rescue operation was put in place. The police, 40 firefighters and about 30 ambulances went to the scene of the accident to rescue the dozens of injured, according to local media Onlarissa.
According to the Ana agency, the fire was brought under control overnight by firefighters who believe that in addition to “dozens of injured, several people were found unconscious and dead”.
Several Greek media refer to at least six people who died in the accident, while the rescue operation is still underway.
“We experienced something very shocking,” said Lazos, a passenger interviewed by the newspaper. Protothema. “I am not injured but I am stained with the blood of other people who were injured next to me,” he said.
The two hospitals in the Larissa region have been requisitioned to accommodate the many injured, according to Onlarissa.
