Thousands of Greeks took to the streets on the anniversary of the Tempi train tragedy, demanding justice and accountability for the deadly accident.
Thousands of people gathered across Greece today February 28, in massive demonstrations marking the anniversary of the Tempi train disaster, one of the deadliest railway accidents in the country’s history. Protesters demanded justice for the victims and accountability for those responsible for the collision that claimed 57 lives, when a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train near the Tempi gorge in central Greece.
Hundreds of thousands of people are participating in protests across Greece, including major cities like Athens, Thessaloniki, Volos, Larissa, Patras, and Heraklion. Demonstrations are also taking place internationally.
The Helenic Air and Rail Safety investigation Authority (HARSIA) released its much anticipated report on the Tempi train accident one day before the two-year commemoration of the rail disaster that claimed 57 lives. (Read the full report here)
The report which is nearly 180 pages long was created for the purpose of future accident prevention. its conclusions however are alarming in more ways than one.
After a months-long investigation the experts now say that the immediate cause of the tragic accident was that both trains were traveling in opposite directions on the same descending track between the Stations of Larιsa and neoi Poroi.
However the experts identify both causal and underlying factors behind the deadly accident. A series of human a errors such as the station Master’s decision to not use the automated method to set the route for the passenger train to leave Larisa station. The chronic and critical deficiencies of the Greek Railway Sector which suffered greatly during the Greek financial crisis and was poorly maintained and significantly underststaffed for years leading up to the accident. These are just some of the factors mentioned in the report that have to do with the causes of the crash.
A press conference held yesterday the experts said that five to seven people died because of the the fire that started after the collision but so far the investigation has not identified any flammable substance that could have caused the fireball recorded after the train crash.
Most significantly part of the reason why is that the mapping of the accident site was inadequate as according to the report the site of the accident was initially not handled as holding any valuable evidence. The investigating experts said that in the first hours after the accident the focus of the investigation was Larisa train station because the main scope of it was to understand the cause of the Collision.
That meant that the evidence collected by the authorities in those critical hours did not include samples and careful recording of the debris before the heavy machinery lifted and trampled on everything before gravel was removed and the area was swept clean.
The cause of the fireball and the fire was not investigated until the 29th of March 2023. However the investigators also note that after the search for survival was ended on the night of the 28th of February 2023 preventing media intrusion on the accident site became a major challenge ultimately also leading to loss of evidence.
The report concludes with a series of recommendations that will help improve the railway system in Greece. there is a need to create the sense of urgency required to improve the sociotechnical rail system. the experts said that this is true for both the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) and the Regulatory Authority for Railways (RAS) as well as for Hellenic Train the private railway company that operates passenger and freight trains in Greece.