Police arrested the Larissa station master for the tragedy with the train collision in Tempi.
The criminal charges that will probably be brought before him will concern the felony offense of disrupting transportation safety that caused death. This offense carries penalties ranging from 10 years to life in prison.
Also, the possible prosecutions that may be brought concern the crime of homicide, without excluding the possibility that a potential fraud will be attributed.
It is noted that the head of the Prosecutor of Appeals of Larisa Stamatis Daskalopoulos, who has been entrusted with the supervision of all the investigations into the tragedy in Tempi, by order of the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Isidoros Dogiakos, goes to the place in order to have a personal supervision of the investigations.
The collision was caused, according to Proto Thema, by a fatal error of the now arrested station master who, in the Larissa-Evangelismos section, directed the passenger train to the downward traffic line, resulting in it being on the same line as the freight train.
The station master allegedly claimed to the police that he gave an order to change the track but it was not implemented by the system.
According to sources, if the station master had realised that the passenger train was moving on the same line as the freight train, he would have ordered both to stop before approaching each other given that the collision took place approximately 25 km from the Larissa railway station and the point of track change.
In any case, the transcript of a possible conversation between the station master and train drivers.
Elli Kasholi is a journalist who is at the scene of the collision near the city of Larissa.
She says that 20-25 people are still missing after the crash but some of these may be people who left the scene without being accounted for.
Emergency service crews are still trying to find people who may be alive inside the train.
Kasholi also says the situation is difficult at the hospitals, where families of loved ones are being asked to identify the bodies of victims, some of which are very badly burned.
A train crash survivor has described the scenes after the crash as “chaotic”.
The man told reporters gathered at Thessaloniki station: “All I personally remember is feeling a very strong braking and suddenly, I see sparks and flames on the sides of the windows.
“And then a sudden stop. This made us all panic and we just wanted to get out as soon as possible so we tried to break the window glass.
“Some guys who were near windows, we broke them, we got out. It was a chaotic situation in front of us.”
The Hellenic Red Cross says it is organising emergency blood donation in the central square of Larissa, the city near to where the collision happened.
This is being done in collaboration with two local hospitals in order to help those who were injured in the crash.
Red Cross volunteers have been among those at the scene helping to transport the dead and injured.
They have also been providing psychological support for victims’ families.
The prime minister of Greece says the country will enter a three day period of mourning.
All public celebrations have been cancelled and flags on public buildings will fly at half mast until Friday.
Survivors of the deadly crash have been speaking to local media.
According to one shaken passenger interviewed on Skai television, “the windows suddenly exploded” and “people were screaming and were afraid”.
They added: “Fortunately, we were able to open the doors and escape fairly quickly. In other wagons, they did not manage to get out, and one wagon even caught fire.”
Another passenger named Lazos told the newspaper Protothema: “I wasn’t hurt, but I was stained with blood from other people who were injured near me.”
READ MORE: Train collision in Larissa: PM Mitsotakis declares three days of national mourning.
