Greece rail crash kills 43 people: An accident waiting to happen? Transport minister resigns, angry citizens take to streets

Not natural disasters, but it's the tragedy caused by sheer human negligence that causes regret and anger, making it impossible to accept and move on. On Tuesday night, a tragic rail crash in northern Greek city of Larissa killed 43 people. A passenger service train collided head on into a freight train causing front carriages of the passenger train to burst into flames. Of the 350 passengers onboard the train, many were students in their 20s returning to Thessaloniki after an extended weekend celebrating Greek Orthodox Lent. Drone footage showing the tragic incident sent shockwaves across the country and on social media.

Greece is in mourning

Three days of national mourning has been declared across the country, following the unfortunate incident. In response to the accident, the government has said that an independent investigation by the authorities will determine all those responsible and deliver justice. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said tragic human error is to blame for the accident.

Protests by angry citizens

Protests broke outside the headquarters of Hellenic Train in Athens, where rioters even clashed with police. Hellenic Train is the company tasked with the maintenance of Greece's Railways. Protests also took place in Thessaloniki and Larissa, near the disaster site.

Those responsible

Even as investigations are on, meanwhile, 59-year-old station master Larissa has been charged with manslaughter by negligence. He denies all the charges pressed against him and has said that crash happened due to a technical fault. Many of the local ground reports emerging from the area, cite rail union members as saying that safety systems were not working properly. They even said that repeated warnings were issued about this since many years. The workers union, in a statement, said, "Pain has turned into anger for the dozens of dead and wounded colleagues and fellow citizens. The disrespect shown over the years by governments to the Greek railways led to the tragic result." Meanwhile, Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis has resigned over the disaster and called the nation's railway system, "not fit for 21st Century."