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Greece train crash: Inside 10 seconds of terror after ‘worst ever’ head-on smash sparks derailment blaze leaving 38 dead
PASSENGERS told of "ten seconds of terror" after a horror head-on train crash that left at least 38 people dead in Greece.
Dozens more were injured when a passenger express hit a freight train and burst into flames in the country's worst-ever railway disaster.
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The passenger express was going from the capital Athens to Thessaloniki in the north.
It had just left Larisa in central Greece when it ploughed head-on into a goods train heading in the opposite direction just before midnight.
At least three carriages burst into flames.
Of 66 injured passengers - including children - some 25 were said to be in a serious condition.
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Horror pictures show the devastating aftermath of the late-night derailment near Tempe.
Mangled carriages with broken windows lay twisted beside the tracks as thick plumes of smoke rose into the sky.
Today rescue workers were seen frantically looking for survivors in the debris as many were believed to be trapped.
Police arrested the station master at Larisa - who was allegedly in charge of signalling on that stretch.
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He was charged with causing mass deaths and grievous bodily harm through negligence, a police official said.
The 59-year-old is said to deny wrongdoing and blamed a technical failure.
A railway union boss said automatic signals at the spot were not working.
The country's Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Kostas Karamanlis resigned in the wake of the tragedy, saying he felt it was his duty and a "sign of respect" to the victims.
Most of the dead were young people in their 20s, said Apostolos Komnos, head of the local hospital emergency unit.
Some 342 passengers and ten crew were on board the express, including many university students returning home after carnival celebrations over the long holiday weekend.
The impact is understood to have been so powerful it "pulverised" the front cars of both trains.
Shocking footage showed the glow of the fire spreading across the wreckage in the darkness overnight.
Witnesses described plumes of black smoke as emergency workers desperately tried to reach those on board.
Stergios Minenis, 28, who jumped to safety from the wreckage, said: "We heard a big bang, (it was) ten nightmarish seconds.
"We were turning over in the wagon until we fell on our sides.
"Then there was panic, cables (everywhere) fire, the fire was immediate, as we were turning over we were being burned, fire was right and left."
Another passenger told Skai TV: "There was panic in the carriage, people were screaming," while another one described the crash as "an earthquake."
A passenger said he managed to escape after breaking the train window with his suitcase.
The Regional Governor of Thessaly told : "Wagons 1 and 2 do not exist. Due to the severity of the collision, they were ejected."
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About 250 passengers were evacuated safely to Thessaloniki on buses.
Firefighters battled to douse the blaze in the early hours of Wednesday morning while searching for survivors.
The armed forces were also called in to assist in the rescue effort, as emergency workers from nearby towns rallied to free those still stuck in the wreckage.
“The evacuation process is ongoing and is being carried out under very difficult conditions due to the severity of the collision between the two trains,” Fire Service spokesman Vassilis Varthakoyiannis said.
The nearby city of Larisa was placed on emergency duty while locals pull together amid the train tragedy.
Some 150 firefighters rushed to the scene as 30 ambulances ferried multiple casualties to nearby hospitals.
Larisa mayor Apostolos Kalogiannis said officials are still trying to determine what happened.
“It was a very powerful collision. This is a terrible night... It’s hard to describe the scene,” Kostas Agorastos, the regional governor of the central Thessaly area, told state-run television.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has suspended his schedule after being informed of the crash.
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He has declared three days of national mourning in memory of the victims.
Military hospitals in Athens and Thessaloniki were put on alert should they need to receive any further wounded.
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