A negative countdown towards a deadly late-night collision of a passenger and freight train in north-central Greece began at 16.32 (14.32 GMT) on Thursday, when a severed electrical cable brought the former to a stop near the central city of Larissa.
The head-on collision came seven and a half hours later, 40 minutes before midnight, when the south-bound freight train slammed into the north-bound IC56 passenger train carrying 450 passengers.
The first critical question to arise as daylight revealed the grim accident scene is why both trains were on the same line and running on a collision course. Another investigation began into how the rail electrical cable was severed, which caused the passenger train’s delay.
The station master in Larissa, a line switchman and an executive of Hellenic Train (formerly Trainose), a subsidiary of Italy’s national rail operator, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, are reportedly being questioned by authorities in the central Greece city.
The official death toll in the morning was 32, although media reports pointed to 38 after 9 a.m.
Live television footage from the crash site showed cranes and scores of first responders trying to disengage and enter the derailed rail wagons.
According to reports, Greece’s political leadership, including the relevant transport minister, were headed to the accident location, while PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis cancelled his scheduled and was expected to arrive at the crash site.
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