LARISSA, Greece (Reuters) - A passenger train and a cargo train collided head-on in Greece on Tuesday night, killing at least 36 people and injuring 85 as the country’s deadliest rail crash in decades threw entire carriages off the tracks.
A fire brigade official said the death toll was expected to rise. Sixty-six of those injured were hospitalized, six of whom in intensive care, the official said.
The crash occurred as the passenger train emerged from a tunnel. Derailed carriages, badly damaged with broken windows and thick plumes of smoke, could be seen on the site.
One passenger carriage stood on its side at almost 90 degrees from the rest of the wrecked train, with other derailed carriages tilting precariously.
“There was panic ... the fire was immediate, as we were turning over we were being burned, fire was right and left,” said Stergios Minenis, a 28-year-old passenger who jumped to safety from the wreckage.
The train carried around 350 passengers.
Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned, saying he felt it was his “duty” to step down “as a basic indication of respect for the memory of the people who died so unfairly.”
Rescuers searched Wednesday through the burned-out wreckage of two trains that slammed into each other in northern Greece, killing at least 36 people and crumpling several carriages into twisted steel knots.
The government declared three days of national mourning, from Wednesday to Friday, with flags flying at half-mast in a tribute to the victims of the crash.
“Our priority now is treating the injured, searching and finding missing people in the debris and offering psychological support to the relatives of the victims,” government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou said.