Greek station master held pending trial over fatal train crash

Man, 59, will be tried on felony charges after deadliest train crash in Greece's history

Flowers for the victims of Greece's worst train accident lie on the tracks of the Rapsani railway station in the country's north on March 5. AFP

The lawyer of a Greek station master said on Sunday his client had been detained pending trial on charges related to the country's deadliest train crash on record.

At least 57 people were killed and scores injured when a passenger train with more than 350 people on board collided head-on with a freight train near the city of Larissa, in central Greece.

The station master, 59, was arrested on March 1 and felony charges were brought against him on Thursday for disrupting transport and putting lives at risk.

Under Greek law, he cannot be identified.

The man appeared before a magistrate on Sunday to respond to the charges.

"It was expected due to the significance of the case, the burden, the responsibility," his lawyer Stefanos Pantzartzidis said.

Mr Pantzartzidis said his client was "devastated" and had told the magistrate "the truth without fear".

On Thursday, he said that his client had assumed responsibility "proportionate to him", but other factors were also at play.

Greek railway unions have long complained of slipping safety standards, which put passengers and workers at risk.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologised on Sunday for any responsibility Greece's government may bear for the crash.

Train crash in Greece - in pictures

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  Police and emergency crew search for trapped passengers inside the wreackage. AFP

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  Multiple carriages derailed and a few burst into flames. AFP

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  A derailed carriage. AFP

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  Rescuers and firefighters search the wreckage. AP

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  The accident occurred when a passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train. AP

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  Firefighters work to extricate passengers from derailed train carriages in Greece. EPA

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  Smoke rises from derailed carriages. AP

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  Several carriages were derailed and at least three burst into flames after the trains collided near Tempe. Reuters

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  Survivors said several passengers were thrown through the windows of the train carriages due to the impact. Reuters

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  Firefighters and rescuers at the site of the crash. Reuters

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  An injured passenger arrives in Thessaloniki, Greece. Reuters

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  A medic treats a passenger who survived the crash, in Thessaloniki. Reuters

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  An aerial view of the site of the crash. Reuters

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  Ambulances line up near the accident scene. EPA

In an initial statement Wednesday, Mr Mitsotakis said the crash resulted from a “tragic human error.”

Opposition parties pounced on the remark, accusing him of trying to cover up the state's role and making the inexperienced station master a scapegoat.

“I owe everyone, and especially the victims’ relatives, a big apology, both personal and on behalf of all who governed the country for many years," Mr Mitsotakis wrote on Facebook.

"In 2023, it is inconceivable that two trains move in different directions on the same track and no one notices. We cannot, we do not want to, and we must not hide behind the human error.”

He promised a swift investigation into the collision and said the new Greek Transport Minister, Giorgos Gerapetritis, would release a safety improvement plan.

When a new parliament is in place, a commission also will be named to investigate decades of mismanagement of the country’s railway system, Mr Mitsotakis said.

Two trains collide in Greece - video

On Sunday, railway unions organised a protest rally in central Athens attended by about 12,000 people according to authorities.

Five people were arrested and seven police officers were injured when a group of more than 200 masked, black-clad people started throwing pieces of marble, rocks, bottles and firebombs at officers, the Athens police department said.

Police at the scene responded with “limited use of the necessary, appropriate means” — that is, tear gas and stun grenades — and chased suspects along a central avenue in the city.

In Thessaloniki, about 3,000 people attended two protest rallies.

The larger one, organised by left-wing activists, marched to a government building. No incidents were reported.

In the other, staged by Communist Party members at the White Tower, there was a brief scuffle with police when the protesters tried to place a banner on the monument.

“The Communist Party organised a symbolic protest today in front of the White Tower to denounce the crime in Tempe, because it is a premeditated crime, a crime committed by the company and the bourgeois state that supports these companies,” Giannis Delis, a Communist politician, told AP.