The head of emergency unit in Larissa hospital Apostolos Komnos said most of the dead were young people, in their 20s. Many of the passengers would have been returning home after a long holiday weekend marking the beginning of Greek Orthodox lent. Thessaloniki has a large student population.
Twitter/ @PeImeniPushaThe government declared three days of national mourning, from Wednesday to Friday, with flags flying at half-mast in a tribute to the victims of the crash. Our priority now is treating the injured, searching and finding missing people in the debris and offering psychological support to the relatives of the victims, government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou said.
Twitter/ @PeImeniPushaPolice temporarily detained the station master in Larissa and at least three witnesses have been questioned, including a representative for Hellenic Train, a police official said. Greece's ageing railway system is in need of modernising, with many trains travelling on single tracks and signalling and automatic control systems still to be installed in many areas.
Twitter/ @IFRC_EuropeFire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Varthakogiannis said the evacuation of passengers took place in very 'difficult conditions given the severity of the collision of the two trains.' We are living through a tragedy. We are pulling out people alive, injured...there are dead, he said.
Twitter/ @JulianHodaj