ATHENS (AP) — Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized Sunday for any responsibility Greece’s government may have for the deadliest train accident in the country’s history, while a station master facing charges gave his account of what happened.
At least 57 people were killed when a passenger train and a freight train collided late on February 28 north of Athens. The stationmaster is accused of mistakenly guiding trains traveling in opposite directions onto the same track, which caused the head-on collision.
A day after the tragedy, Mitsotakis said it was the result of “tragic human error”, but opposition politicians accused the prime minister of trying to cover up the role of the state and converting the city’s inexperienced stationmaster of Larissa into a scapegoat.
“I owe everyone, and especially the families of the victims, a huge apology, both personally and on behalf of all who ruled the country for many years,” Mitsotakis wrote on Facebook. “In 2023, it is inconceivable that two trains are moving in different directions on the same track and no one will notice. We cannot, we do not want to and we must not hide behind human error”.
The local press reported that the automated signaling system in the accident area was not working, causing the stationmaster’s error.
The prime minister promised a swift investigation and said the new transport minister will publish a plan to improve security.
Greece’s rail system has suffered for years from mismanagement that included lavish spending on projects that were ultimately abandoned or significantly delayed. The state railway company Hellenic Railways owes billions of euros and maintenance work has been postponed, according to news reports.
A retired railway union leader, Panayotis Paraskevopoulos, told the Kathimerini newspaper that the signaling system in the area monitored by the Larissa stationmaster had not been working for six years and was never repaired.
The stationmaster testified Sunday before a prosecutor and an investigative judge to answer charges that include various counts of negligent homicide, bodily injury and disruption of transportation. ——— Kantouris reported from Thessaloniki.