There is a glimmer of hope for 20-year-old Gerasimos from Volos, who is fighting a huge battle to stay alive in the ICU of the Larissa General Hospital after the train collision in Tempi, as some of his indicators have improved. Doctors are treating the situation with moderate optimism.
Gerasimos is the only survivor from the first carriage of the Intercity62 passenger train, with his relatives praying and being by his side from the first minute in the battle to keep alive, with the assistance of a specialised team of neurosurgeons from the University Hospital.
After three weeks of hospitalisation in the ICU, his health offered timid, but hopeful messages as some swellings have shown partial subsidence.
According to Thess Today, he also underwent a tracheostomy.
Meanwhile, a female passenger who was injured in the deadly train collision, has filed a criminal complaint against any person responsible for the tragedy, requesting a full investigation into the liability of persons in positions of power.
While citizens have continued to protest against the accident over the week, railway services in Greece are expected to gradually resume from Wednesday.
According to the newly-appointed Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Giorgos Gerapetritis, train itineraries will be added every five days, starting Wednesday, March 22, “so that we have the schedules fully deployed within the twenty-five days to Orthodox Easter [April 16]”.
The Athens suburban railway line connecting the port of Piraeus and the capital city centre with Athens International Airport will be among the first to resume.
The itinerary from Athens to Thessaloniki -the line where the collision took place- will relaunch on April 1, with one morning route.
Injured passenger requests full investigation on Tempi train crash liability
A female passenger who was injured in the deadly train crash at Tempi filed a criminal complaint at the Athens prosecutor’s office on Friday, demanding its full investigation.
She requests “a full investigation of criminal offenses, committed by any liable, natural or moral perpetrator, through their actions or omissions regardless of their position, either in the hierarchy of the Hellenic Train Organization (OSE)’s administrations or among the politicians responsible for [OSE’s] supervision.”
AMNA reports that the criminal complaint is expected to be tabled in the Greek Parliament, which is responsible to judge whether any politicians are criminally liable, and if so, how.
Railway itineraries resume in Greece with emphasis on safety
Speaking at Saturday’s first assembly of the Hellenic Railways Organisation’s (OSE) newly set-up Crisis Management Coordination Centre, Gerapetritis said that restarting the country’s railways safely is key to restoring the public’s confidence in using it again.
Regarding railway tunnel safety, the minister pointed out that there are immediate plans to upgrade surveillance with electronic cameras and that “there will only be one train tracking along in every tunnel at any one time until remote control and management systems are fully installed again.”
The authorities’ investigation into the causes of the February 28 fatal train collision will be followed through to all the definitive logical conclusions, he reassured.
Thousands of citizens continue to protest
In the meantime, tens of thousands of citizens continued to protest against the tragedy during the week, calling for an in-depth investigation into the collision and better safety in public transportation.
Flights were cancelled on Thursday as air traffic controllers joined the 24-hour nationwide strike announced by the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), the Civil Servants’ Confederation (ADEDY), and the Panhellenic Maritime Federation (PNO).
“The crime at Tempi will not be covered up. We claim the life that we deserve, a life with contemporary rights, a better future for us and our children,” the Civil Servants’ Confederation said in a statement.
A demonstration rally in Athens that day ended in clashes between police and rioters. At least ten persons involved in the violence were detained.
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