Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday apologized over the country’s deadliest train disaster and said he will ask Brussels for help to overhaul the country’s railway network as mass protests continued unabated.
“As prime minister, I owe everyone, but above all the relatives of the victims, a big SORRY,” Mitsotakis wrote on Facebook. “In the Greece of 2023, it is not possible for two trains to run on opposite sides of the same track without anyone noticing.”
Two trains traveling at high speed in opposite directions on the same line collided head-on in Tempe in northern Greece on February 28, killing at least 57 people and injuring 85. A train with at least 350 on board including many university students hit a cargo train.
“We can’t, won’t and shouldn’t hide behind human error,” added the prime minister. Mitsotakis previously said on March 1 that the disaster was “primarily down to a tragic human error.”
The stationmaster for the city of Larissa faces charges of negligent homicide and admitted to some responsibility in his first court appearance on Sunday, according to Greek broadcaster ERT.
But Greece’s aging 2,550-kilometer-rail network has been in desperate need of modernizing and has faced criticism for alleged mismanagement, unfit equipment and poor maintenance.
The deadly crash has prompted massive protests across the country about the government’s responsibility in the disaster. Around 12,000 people protested on Sunday in front of the parliament in Athens, according to ERT. Clashes broke out during protests on Friday in Athens and the country’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki, with police using tear gas and sound grenades.
Mitsotakis, who is preparing for elections in the spring, has promised an independent expert committee will investigate the cause of the accident.
He also said he will ask the European Commission and other EU capitals for help.
“I will immediately ask the European Commission and friendly countries for their contribution to know-how so that we can finally obtain modern trains,” said Mitsotakis. “And I will fight for additional community funding to quickly maintain and upgrade the existing network.”
