Late at night on February 28th, 2023, a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train in Greece. The crash was one of the worst rail accidents in the country’s history, claiming the lives of 57 people. The passenger train was carrying around 350 people and was traveling from Athens to Thessaloniki. Upon collision, one of the passenger cars caught fire, and DNA tests had to be used to identify the victims. When the crash happened, both trains were traveling at speeds between 85-100 miles per hour. The President of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, contends that the crash happened mainly because of “tragic human error,” however many people disagree with this. Just a few days after the train crash, protests erupted around the country because of what protestors saw as a lack of governmental accountability. They blame the train crash on problems such as staff shortages, poor maintenance, and a lack of modernization. Rail workers in particular have attributed government neglect and privatization to a larger decline in Greece’s rail industry. Widespread anger throughout all of Greece has caused protests and even riots. More recently, nation-wide strikes caused by anger over the crash have closed schools, airports, and public transportation.

Leading up to the horrific events of the crash, a stationmaster explicitly told one of the train drivers to continue forward when encountering a red light. A dispatch recording released to the public shows the series of negligent acts that led to this disastrous turn of events. When the train driver came upon the red light, the station master told them to “proceed through red traffic light exit.” Soon after, a second conversation recorded over the dispatch radio revealed the stationmaster instructing that another train be kept on the same pathway of the one told to continue through a red light. These careless and irresponsible decisions led to the deaths, for which the stationmaster was arrested and charged with manslaughter.

Student and worker unions quickly responded to the disastrous event, voicing their continued frustrations with Greece’s public transportation system through organized protests. The people of Greece are demanding answers. What really happened during the crash? Where are the missing people? Without answers, the distress in Greece will surely only continue to grow.

Information retrieved The Wall Street Journal and CNN.