Sixteen people were killed and at least 85 injured in a collision of two trains near the city of Larissa in Greece late on Tuesday, fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Varthakogiannis said in a televised address early on Wednesday.
Multiple train cars derailed and at least three caught fire after the crash near Tempe, some 380 kilometres (235 miles) north of Athens. Hospital officials in the nearby city of Larissa said at least 60 people had been hurt, 25 of them seriously.
“It was a very powerful collision. This is a terrible night… It’s hard to describe the scene,” Costas Agorastos, the regional governor of the central Thessaly area, told state-run television.
Ambulances arrived from several nearby towns to help transport injured passengers.
Rescuers wearing head lamps worked in thick smoke, pulling pieces of mangled sheet metal from the crashed rail cars to search for trapped people.
Government officials said the army has been contacted to assist in the rescue and that two additional hospitals in Larissa had been placed in emergency duty.
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AP)
