© Provided by The Telegraph ‘Angel’ Andreas Alikaniotis who broke through a window to save other passengers from a burning carriage
A 20-year-old Greek student has been hailed as a hero after he reportedly managed to save at least 10 people from a burning carriage after two trains collided head-on in Greece’s worst ever train disaster, it emerged on Thursday.
At least 43 mostly young people were killed when a passenger train travelling from Athens to Thessaloniki with more than 350 people on board smashed head first into a freight train that was on the same track going in the opposite direction.
But a doctor at nearby Larissa hospital said that death toll would have been higher had it not been for “angel” Andreas Alikaniotis.
The 20-year-old reportedly managed to break a window in one of the carriages and help save his fellow passengers.
“Although the sky was filled with angels today, we are lucky to have an earthly angel among us, the 20-year-old student Andreas Alikaniotis.
“He is a hero because at the risk of his life, with the huge fire next to him, he did not abandon the carriage but broke the glass and saved at least ten (passengers),” the doctor from Larissa University Hospital wrote on Facebook.
Among those killed in the disaster were 20-year-old twins Thomi and Chrysa Plakias and their cousin Anastasia Plakias.
© Social media Twins Thomi and Chrysa Plakias and their first cousin Anastasia – Social media
The fathers of the twins and their cousin, Nikos and Dimitris Plakias, who run a tavern in the central Greek village of Kastraki, travelled to Larissa to provide DNA to help identify the bodies on Wednesday.
Rescuers and doctors are having to resort to such techniques because many of the victims of the crash were so badly burnt in the tragedy.
The first two carriages of the passenger train were engulfed in flames upon impact, with temperatures reaching 1,300 degrees Celsius and practically disintegrating.
Many of the passengers were students who were returning to Thessaloniki after spending a long weekend celebrating Greek Orthodox Lent.
Dozens of people were injured and the drivers of both trains were killed.
© Provided by The Telegraph The first two carriages of the passenger train were engulfed in flames and practically disintegrated. – ALEXANDROS AVRAMIDIS/REUTERS
Amid ongoing questions over how two trains ended up travelling on the same track, there were furious demonstrations in Athens overnight on Wednesday.
Protesters clashed with Greek riot police, who fired tear gas, outside the headquarters of Hellenic Train, the firm responsible for maintaining Greek railways.
They then marched to the Greek parliament in Syntagma Square, in the centre of the capital, where there were further clashes.
Demonstrators threw stones and lit fires in the streets. There were also angry protests in Thessaloniki and Larissa, the town close to where the accident happened.
© Provided by The Telegraph Protesters outside of the offices of the Hellenic Train company during a demonstration in Athens – Anadolu Agency
© Provided by The Telegraph Protesters clash with riot police in Athens – Anadolu Agency
The station master of Larissa train station was arrested on Wednesday and was expected to appear before a local magistrate on Thursday. Greece’s transport minister has also resigned.
Railway workers nationwide walked off the job on Thursday, saying successive governments had ignored repeated demands to improve safety standards.
“Pain has turned into anger for the dozens of dead and wounded colleagues and fellow citizens,” the railway workers’ union said in a statement.
“The disrespect shown over the years by governments to the Greek railways led to the tragic result.”
Rescuers resumed the search for victims on Thursday, combing through the buckled and burned remains of carriages that derailed and then burst into flames.
But hopes of finding anyone still alive in the wreckage appeared to be slim.
© Provided by The Telegraph Firefighters and rescuers supported by three cranes continue to search the wreckage of the trains for survivors and bodies on Thursday – Vaggelis Kousioras/AP
© Provided by The Telegraph The first two carriages of the passenger train, pictured to the right, were engulfed in flames and practically disintegrated – ALEXANDROS AVRAMIDIS/REUTERS
“It will be very difficult to find survivors, due to the temperatures that developed in the carriages,” 40-year old rescuer Constantinos Imamidis told Reuters.
“This is the hardest thing, instead of saving lives we have to dig out bodies.”
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the collision of the passenger train and a freight train “a horrific rail accident without precedent in our country,” and pledged a full, independent investigation.
He said it appeared the crash was “mainly due to a tragic human error,” but did not elaborate.
Greece sold railway operator TRAINOSE under its international bailout programme in 2017 to Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane.
The Italian operation has responsibility for passenger and freight, and the Greek state-controlled OSE for infrastructure.