Protesters returned to the streets of Thessaloniki on Saturday amid public anger over the deadliest rail crisis in Greece’s historical past.
Days of rallies have taken position around the nation in mild of Tuesday’s crash, which killed no less than 57 folks, because of a perceived loss of protection measures within the delivery community.
The stationmaster concerned is about to look prior to a prosecutor and an inspecting Justice of the Peace Sunday after his deposition was once postponed an afternoon previous.
The 59-year-old is accused of striking two trains working in reverse instructions at the identical observe, leading to a passenger educate slamming right into a freight provider overdue Tuesday at Tempe, 380 kilometres north of Athens.
The executive has blamed human error, and the stationmaster faces more than one fees of negligent murder and physically hurt, in addition to disrupting transportation.
Stephanos Pantzartzidis, the stationmaster’s legal professional, advised newshounds ready outdoor the courthouse Saturday within the central Greek town of Larissa that “very important new evidence emerged that force us to request a postponement” in his consumer’s deposition.
The legal professional did not elaborate. Per Greek regulation, government have now not launched the accused’s title.
On Saturday, probably the most 3 participants of a professional panel named by way of the federal government to research and factor a file at the collision resigned after opposition events and a few media retailers panned his appointment.
Thanasis Ziliaskopoulos served as chairman and CEO of the rustic’s educate operator from 2010 to 2015 and is recently the chairman of the Greek company in command of privatizing state-owned belongings.
Many of the folks killed had been of their teenagers and 20s
Funerals for probably the most folks killed within the crash, lots of them of their teenagers and 20s, happened in northern Greece. The drive of the crash and the ensuing hearth difficult the duty of figuring out the sufferers, which is being achieved via next-of-kin DNA checking out.
Some households haven’t begun to obtain the stays in their family members. Police mentioned 54 sufferers had been undoubtedly known.
Rallies protesting the prerequisites that ended in the tragedy endured Saturday. A calm rally in central Athens arranged by way of the Communist Party’s formative years wing drew over 1000 folks.
A rally arranged by way of a rail staff’ union is scheduled for Sunday morning, additionally in Athens. The union, which is organizing rolling labour moves, has requested participants of the general public to participate.
Greek media have printed damning accounts of mismanagement and infrastructure forget in Greece’s railways.
A former head of the railway workers’ union, Panayotis Paraskevopoulos, advised the Greek newspaper Kathimerini that the signalling machine within the house the place the twist of fate befell malfunctioned six years in the past and was once by no means repaired.
Stationmasters and educate drivers keep up a correspondence by way of two-way radio and observe switches are operated manually over portions of the primary rail line from the capital Athens to the northern town of Thessaloniki.
The stationmaster, who previously labored as a porter on the state-owned Hellenic Railways, or OSE, was once transferred to a table process on the Ministry of Education in 2011 when Greece’s collectors demanded body of workers cuts in railways.
He transferred again to the corporate in June 2022 and was once appointed stationmaster in Larissa, crucial railway hub, in January, after 5 months of coaching.
Police early Friday searched a rail coordination place of work in Larissa, doing away with proof as a part of an ongoing investigation.
The since privatized educate and freight operator, renamed Hellenic Train, is now owned by way of Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane.
