Greece (Eurotoday) – Two years after Greece’s deadliest rail disaster in Tempi, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has admitted that the freight train involved may have been carrying illegal or toxic cargo, contradicting his earlier denials.
The backstory – What happened?
Greece is still in shock, grief, and outrage over the fatal train catastrophe that occurred in Tempi on February 28, 2023. Numerous young students were among the 57 people killed in the collision between a passenger train and a freight train in the town of Tempi in central Greece. Dozens more were injured.
The incident, which has been called the deadliest rail accident in Greek history, revealed structural flaws in the country’s safety procedures and railway infrastructure. Nationwide protests, demands for accountability, and a worsening political crisis have all been triggered by the tragedy in the weeks following the crash. Two years later, a trial is yet to start and keeps getting postponed by delays in the investigation.
The allegations of a cover-up
Initially, investigations pointed to human error as a primary cause, with allegations that the stationmaster on duty had improperly allowed the two trains to occupy the same track. However, it quickly became clear that the accident was the result of deeper, long-standing issues, including outdated signalling systems, underinvestment in rail infrastructure, and a lack of modern safety protocols.
Within 24 hours of the disaster, authorities began the process of covering the crash site with a substantial amount of soil and debris. This rapid “filling in” of the area, which included the removal of around 300 cubic meters of earth, has been seen as highly unusual and controversial. According to the information presented on the tv channel MEGA by Vasilis Lampropoulos, on January 31, 2025, there are two police testimonies that speak of pressure from government officials to allow this.
The police officers have provided the names of the individuals who participated in a meeting held three days after the accident, during which they were pressured to restart the railway operations as soon as possible. Specifically, the participants included Christos Triantopoulos, the then Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister responsible for state assistance and natural disaster recovery, Giannis Xifaras, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, and Kostas Agorastos, the then Regional Governor of Thessaly.
More than that, there have been suspicions that the cargo the freight train carried was not only highly toxic but also illegal. A year after the tragic incident, audio recordings of calls to 112 saw the light of day. These recordings capture the desperate last moments of passengers on board, many of whom were heard crying out for help after the collision.
It was also confirmed by the report of expert investigator Vasilis Kokotsakis, in collaboration with Manolis Papadakis, that several passengers survived the collision with the freight train but met an untimely death in the fire that followed. According to the report, based on forensic reports and documents, the passengers who survived the train collision but died due to the fire and its consequences were 27.
The protests two years later
Today, two years after the crash, the families still do not have answers. On Sunday, January 26, massive protests were held in Athens, Thessaloniki, and more than 100 cities in Greece and abroad including London, Amsterdam and Berlin. Tens of thousands of people, among them students, railway workers, and ordinary citizens, marched under the banners “We won’t forget” and “I have no oxygen,” the latter echoing a victim’s final words during an emergency call. In the protest in Syntagma Square in Athens, the leaders of many opposition parties such as PASOK, SYRIZA, New Left, and Plefsi Eleftherias, were also present.
The demonstrators, led by victims’ relatives, accused the government of a cover-up, faulty investigations, and deflecting blame. Despite ongoing judicial investigations, no one has been held accountable, leading to public frustration over the perceived neglect of the rail network and the slow pace of promised reforms.
According to the announcement shared by the president of the Association of Relatives of the Tempi Victims, Maria Karystianou, the Association demands: “an immediate investigation into the explosion of
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