Thousands of protesters on Friday held new demonstrations in major Greek cities to demand justice for the victims and families of the country’s worst rail disaster in which 57 people died in 2023.
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The protests mainly attended by school pupils has an overarching slogan of ‘I have no oxygen’, a reference to the final moments of passengers trapped on the mangled train.
On February 28, 2003, a train from Athens to Thessaloniki carrying more than 350 passengers collided head-on with a goods train near the central city of Larissa.
Survivors described being trapped among smashed carriages and burning debris as the train keeled over.
Investigators appointed by the victims’ families claim the goods train was carrying an illegal and unreported load of explosive chemicals, which contributed to the high death toll.
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They have said some 30 people survived the initial crash but were then killed by explosions.
In the two years since the disaster, the administration of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has faced a torrent of accusations of negligence and criminal wrongdoing.