Rail workers across Greece have embarked on a one-day strike halting train activities for 24 hours.
This strike is being carried out of anger and pain, as they mourn the loss of their fellow workers who died on Tuesday.
“Pain has turned into anger for the dozens of dead and wounded colleagues and fellow citizens,” the workers’ union said in a statement.
A train coalition in Greece has killed at least 43 people and injured many others.
Cities like Athens, Thessaloniki, and Larissa, near the site of the disaster, have witnessed protests by rail workers.
How It Happened
Rescue workers are still searching through burned and buckled carriages for victims.
This was the “most difficult moment”, rescuer Konstantinos Imanimidis told Reuters news agency, as “instead of saving lives, we have to recover bodies”.
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The incident happened just before midnight on Tuesday.
A passenger train carrying 350 people crashed into a freight train after both ended up on the same track.
The rail workers union blames successive governments’ “disrespect” towards Greek railways for leading to this “tragic result”.
Who Is Responsible For The Crash?
No one has been confirmed to have been at fault for the incident.
However, a 59-year-old station master in Larissa has been charged with manslaughter by negligence and is due to appear in court on Thursday.
He has denied any wrongdoing, blaming the crash on a technical fault.
The country’s transport minister has also resigned over the incident, saying he would take responsibility for the authorities’ “long-standing failures” to fix a railway system that was not fit for the 21st Century.
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Meanwhile, the government has promised to deliver justice and has ordered an investigation.
However, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis suggests that “tragic human error” was too lame and this response has caused anger.
Triggered by the prime minister’s comment, rioters clashed with police outside the headquarters of the Hellenic Train in Athens.
This is the headquarters of the company responsible for maintaining Greece’s railways.
Police officers had to use tear gas to disperse protesters, who threw stones and lit fires in the streets.
