AFP.com, 1 March, 2023- More than 35 people were killed when two trains collided overnight near the Vale of Tempe. Greek Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned on Wednesday, saying it was his “duty” to step down out of “respect for the memory” of those who were killed. A stationmaster for the city of Larissa has been arrested, although the cause of the crash remains unknown.

It took a bang, and just seconds to turn a long holiday weekend into a nightmare for hundreds of Greeks caught up in a deadly train wreck on Tuesday night.

Tuesday’s train crash 220 miles north of Athens killed at least 36 people when a high-speed passenger train heading to the northern city of Thessaloniki careered into a freight train from the opposite direction, flying off the track and bursting into flames.

Witnesses said they felt a strong shudder, then a bang, then chaos.

There were about 346 people on the train, which passengers described as being two-thirds full with many young people.

“Windows were being smashed and people were screaming,” said a passenger on the fifth carriage. 

Another passenger in one of the last carriages said he felt the train shake, then flip over.

“I managed to get out and went to the front, the train was bent at a 90 degree angle, half of it was hanging over the cliff burning. There were five people injured just where I stood,” he said.

As morning broke, rescue crews trawled through a smouldering mangled mass of steel while cranes slowly removed pieces of the train.