ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th May, 2023) Relatives of the 57 people killed in the train collision in Greece in February have filed suits against Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and several other Greek politicians as well as against members of Hellenic Train, OSE and other Greek railroad companies, Greek media reported on Tuesday.
Members of the "Tempe 2023" association, comprised of the relatives of people killed in the deadly disaster near the city of Tempe, came to the court of the city of Larissa to sue the officials they call "the accused" and "the key persons responsible for the crime," the ThessToday news website reported.
In addition to Mitsotakis, suits were filed against Kostas Karamanlis, who was the transport minister at the time of the crash, and his predecessors Christos Spirtzis and Michalis Chrisochoidis, as well as all their deputies and former deputies, incumbent Transport Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis and many other officials, the report said.
The plaintiffs claim that the actions and inaction of multiple railroad station managers, inspectors, government officials, ministers and public officers during the previous 15 years constantly put lives at risk, culminating in the disaster of February 28.
The suits were filed just days before the Greek parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to take place on May 21.
A head-on collision occurred between a freighter and a passenger train south of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, between Athens and Thessaloniki. Most of the 57 people killed in the crash were university students.
The police arrested the manager of the local railroad station in Larissa, who admitted to sending the passenger train on the same track as the advancing freighter by mistake. Local media reported that he had no experience in managing railroad traffic. Rail employees said that they had previously reported multiple security issues, in particular, malfunctioning automatic traffic controls, signals and communication equipment, but those complaints had been neglected by railroad officials for years.
The Greek authorities admitted that the catastrophe could have been prevented if the safety systems had been functioning properly.
