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Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized Sunday for any responsibility Greece’s government may bear for the deadliest train crash in the country’s history, while a stationmaster facing charges gave his account of the events leading up to the tragedy.
At least 57 people were killed when a passenger train and a freight train collided late Tuesday north of Athens. The stationmaster is accused of mistakenly guiding the two trains traveling in opposite directions onto the same track, precipitating the head-on collision.
In an initial statement Wednesday, Mitsotakis said the crash resulted from a “tragic human error.” Opposition parties pounced on the remark, accusing the prime minister of trying to cover up the state’s role and making the inexperienced stationmaster in the city of Larissa a scapegoat.
“I owe everyone, and especially the victims’ relatives, a big apology, both personal and on behalf of all who governed the country for many years,» Mitsotakis wrote on Facebook. «In 2023, it is inconceivable that two trains move in different directions on the same track and no one notices. We cannot, we do not want to, and we must not hide behind the human error.”
Greek media have reported that the automated signaling system in the area of the crash was not functioning, leading to the stationmaster’s mistake.
The prime minister promised a swift investigation of the collision and said the new Greek transportation minister would release a safety improvement plan. Once a new parliament is in place, a commission also will be named to investigate decades of mismanagement of the country’s railway system, Mitsotakis said.
