The reason for the crash close to the Vale of Tempe, about 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens, was not instantly clear, however the stationmaster within the close by metropolis of Larissa was arrested Wednesday. The police didn’t launch his identify. One other two folks have been detained for questioning.

It’s unclear at what velocity the 2 trains have been travelling once they bumped into one another simply earlier than midnight Tuesday, however state broadcaster ERT mentioned it was greater than 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour).

Survivors mentioned the influence threw a number of passengers by way of the home windows of practice vehicles. ERT quoted rescuers saying they discovered some victims’ our bodies 30-40 meters (100-130 ft) from the influence web site.

Stefanos Gogakos mentioned it felt like an explosion, whereas from his rear carriage flames might be seen on the entrance of the practice.

“The glass within the home windows shattered and fell on high of us,” he advised ERT. “My head hit the roof of the carriage with the jolt. Some folks began to climb out by way of the home windows as a result of there was smoke within the carriage. The doorways have been closed however in a couple of minutes practice workers opened them and we bought out.”

A number of vehicles derailed and not less than three burst into flames. On Wednesday, one carriage lay atop the crumpled stays of one other two.

“Temperatures reached 1,300 levels Celsius (2,372 Fahrenheit), which makes it much more tough to establish the individuals who have been in it,” hearth service spokesperson Vassilis Varthakoyiannis mentioned.

Lots of the 350 folks aboard the passenger practice have been college students getting back from Greece’s raucous Carnival, officers mentioned. This 12 months was the primary time the three-day competition, which precedes Lent, was celebrated in full because the begin of the pandemic in 2020.

Visiting the accident scene, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis mentioned that the federal government should assist the injured recuperate and establish the lifeless.

“I can assure one factor: We’ll discover out the causes of this tragedy and we’ll do all that’s in our energy in order that one thing like this by no means occurs once more,” Mitsotakis mentioned.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou broke off an official go to to Moldova to go to the scene, laying flowers beside the wreckage.

The federal government declared three days of nationwide mourning from Wednesday, whereas flags flew at half-staff exterior all European Fee buildings in Brussels.

Pope Francis supplied his condolences to the households of the lifeless, in a message despatched to the president of the Greek bishops convention on his behalf by the Vatican’s secretary of state,

The pontiff “sends the peace of mind of his prayers to everybody affected by this tragedy,” the message mentioned.

On Wednesday, rescuers turned to cranes and different heavy equipment to start out transferring massive items of the trains, revealing extra our bodies and dismembered stays. Officers mentioned the military had been contacted to help.

Rescuer Lazaros Sarianidis advised state broadcaster ERT that crews have been “very rigorously” attempting to disentangle metal, sheet steel and different materials that was twisted collectively by the crash. “It should take a very long time,” mentioned Sarianidis.

Costas Agorastos, the regional governor of the Thessaly space, advised Greece’s Skai Tv that the 2 trains collided head on at excessive velocity.

“Carriage one and two not exist, and the third has derailed,” he mentioned.

The trains crashed simply earlier than the Vale of Tempe, a gorge that separates the areas of Thessaly and Macedonia.

“There have been many massive items of metal,” mentioned Vassilis Polyzos, an area resident who mentioned he was one of many first folks on the scene. “The trains have been utterly destroyed, each passenger and freight trains.”

He mentioned dazed and disoriented folks have been escaping out of the practice’s rear vehicles as he arrived.

“Individuals, naturally, have been scared — very scared,” he mentioned. “They have been trying round, looking out; they didn’t know the place they have been.”

Eight rail staff have been amongst these killed within the crash, together with the 2 drivers of the freight practice and the 2 drivers of the passenger practice, in line with Greek Railroad Staff Union President Yannis Nitsas.

Greece’s firefighting service mentioned some 66 folks have been hospitalized, together with six in intensive care.

Greater than 200 individuals who have been unhurt within the crash or suffered minor accidents have been transported by bus to Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the north. Police took their names as they arrived, in an effort to trace anybody who could also be lacking.

Barely capable of maintain again tears, Greece’s Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis advised reporters on the crash web site that authorities would examine “in all seriousness and full transparency” the causes of the crash.

“We’ll do every thing to analyze the causes and gained’t go away something to be swept beneath the carpet,” Karamanlis mentioned.

A teenage survivor who didn’t give his identify to reporters mentioned that simply earlier than the crash he felt a powerful braking and noticed sparks — then there was a sudden cease.

“Our carriage didn’t derail, however the ones in entrance did and have been smashed,” he mentioned, visibly shaken.

He added that the primary automobile caught hearth and that he used a bag to interrupt the window of his automobile, the fourth, and escape.

Rail operator Hellenic Practice mentioned the northbound passenger practice to Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest metropolis, had about 350 passengers on board.

Hellenic Practice is operated by Italy’s FS Group, which runs rail providers in a number of European nations.

Patrick Quinn and David Rising contributed to this story from Bangkok. Gatopoulos reported from Athens.