Death Toll Greece Train Crash Rising To Nearly 60
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ATHENS (Worthy News) – Authorities in Greece say at least 57 people are now known to have died in the nation’s deadliest train disaster and one of the worst in Europe in years.
Eleni Zaggelidou, one of ten coroners working on the investigation, told the media that DNA had been taken from 57 intact bodies.
The announcement came as public anger mounted about the late Tuesday tragedy amid frustration over transport policies.
Greece’s Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned, and a station master was detained after a train carrying 350 people collided with a freight train near Larissa city, 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens, the capital.
Yet with more details emerging, rail workers held a one-day strike on Thursday following the disaster, blaming “government neglect” for the crash. Their walkout followed protests in Athens, Thessaloniki, and the city of Larissa, near the disaster site.
The government said austerity during Greece’s economic crisis in the 2000s contributed to a lack of investment in the railways. However, after years of overspending to receive billions in European Union support, those austerity measures were necessary.
As questions were raised about why the train crash happened, rescue workers focused on still going through burned and buckled carriages there.
As they searched for victims, they soon discovered that the carnage was worse than expected.
This was the “most difficult moment,” said rescuer Konstantinos Imanimidis.” Instead of saving lives, we must recover bodies.”
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