site.btaUPDATED Answers or Only Tension: What Will February Bring for Investigation of 2023 Greek Train Crash?
February is shaping up to be a heated month for Greek society and especially for the Greek government, as the opposition has once again brought to the forefront the tragedy in the Tempe Valley in Thessaly on the night of February 28, 2023, when a passenger train and a freight train collided head-on. The crash claimed the lives of 57 people, mostly students returning from a short vacation. Human error and issues with the signalling system on the line were cited as causes.
Will the coming tense month provide final answers to the uncertainties surrounding the events?
Public discontent flared again after audio recordings were leaked in late January, suggesting that around 30 of the 57 victims were still alive after the trains collided. The recordings indicate that those passengers may have died later, probably from suffocation or burns, as the crash caused a massive explosion and fire. The exact causes of the fire are still unknown, but according to a leaked experts' report funded by the victims' families, the freight train was carrying an illegal load, Agence France-Presse reported.
On January 26, tens of thousands of people gathered in Syntagma Square in Athens for one of the largest demonstrations demanding justice. Protests also took place in 97 towns across Greece and 13 cities worldwide.
Interviewed by Alpha TV on January 29, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that after the crash, he had assured the public the freight train was not carrying flammable substances because this was the information provided by rail operator Hellenic Train, the OSE infrastructure company and the fire services. "If you ask me whether I regret my statement or if I was mistaken, I will say it clearly: with what I know today, I obviously would not have said what I did back then."
For its part, on January 30, Hellenic Train released an official report on the load of the freight train, apparently in response to Prime Minister Mitsotakis's statement which left room for suspicion about it. According to the company cited by the Ta Nea daily, the freight train had 13 carriages. Three of them, carrying sheet steel, derailed in the crash, while the rest carried containers - four carriages with food products, two with beer, two with steel wire, and two with empty containers.
Proto Thema commented on January 31 the government is determined that Hellenic Train should take responsibility, especially if it turns out the company knew about an illegal load on one of the trains - this was the message sent a day earlier by Government Spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis. Infrastructure and Transport Minister Christos Staikouras went even further in an interview with Talk Radio 98.9 as he did not rule out a possible nationalization of the operator if evidence emerged that it had failed to meet its contractual obligations.
Since the parent company of Hellenic Train, Italy's Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. is state-owned, Mitsotakis is expected to bring up the matter at a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on February 19, according to Proto Thema.
Skai TV summed up the events expected next month, both in the investigation of the tragedy and the political clash, which has already begun. Nikos Androulakis, leader of PASOK, the largest opposition party, announced on January 30 that "as soon as new data from the investigation emerge," he will call for a vote of no confidence in the government. For his part, Kyriakos Velopoulos, leader of the nationalist Greek Solution party, called on Mitsotakis to resign.
By February 15, the National Polytechnic University of Athens is expected to present its findings about the causes of the explosion and the fireball seen in videos from the crash.
On February 27, the National Organization for the Investigation of Air and Rail Accidents (EODASAM) is expected to present its conclusions.
In Parliament, the opposition has asked for an extraordinary debate. The government has already agreed to hold the debate, which is expected to take place around mid-February.
The conclusions of various expert reports will shape the opposition's actions. In addition to PASOK's intention to call for a vote of no confidence in the cabinet, the second-largest opposition force, the left-wing Syriza, is planning to ask for the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry committee. The government has said it will not obstruct this procedure.
On the second anniversary of the crash, February 28, there will be more demonstrations and protests amid the already tense atmosphere surrounding the issue.
/DD/
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