Three full 24 hours after the tragic head-on collision of the two trains in Tempi. Although we know for sure that this is the deadliest railway accident in the modern history of the country, the number of dead remains unclear.
The most recent announcement by the police speaks of 57 victims, while the process of identifying the dead, either physically or through DNA analysis, continues and is expected to be completed by Friday evening. According to the authorities, out of the total of 57 human bodies, 23 are completely charred, and of these only 12 remain recognizable.
At the same time, 10 bags of human parts collected at the scene of the fatal crash have been brought together for separate DNA tests to see if they are compatible with the bodies already identified.
It is also possible that there will be victims whose deaths will never be confirmed. After all, the temperatures that developed in the first wagons during the impact exceeded 1.300 degrees Celsius, while, as the regional governor of Thessaly confirmed a few hours after the incident, "literally nothing was left standing in the first two wagons".
It is not excluded that the process of identifying the members will lead to an increase in the account of the disaster, with the number of dead exceeding that of the missing who have already been declared by relatives and friends of the passengers. "Maybe in the end we will surpass the 60 dead," a devastated Rubini Leontari, head of the Forensic Service of Larissa, told reporters.
It is also possible that there will be victims whose deaths will never be confirmed. After all, the temperatures that developed in the first wagons during the impact exceeded 1.300 degrees Celsius, while, as the regional governor of Thessaly confirmed a few hours after the incident, "literally nothing was left standing in the first two wagons". Because of the ferocity of the conflict and the high temperatures, then, some families may never know, with coroner's confirmation, whether their loved ones were lost in the wreckage of the deadly crash.
There are many reasons for the terrible confusion that still prevails regarding the confirmation of the victims and the missing. Of course, the nature of the accident itself is included in them, which significantly complicates the efforts of the forensic laboratories of EL.AS. and the Forensic Service of Larissa, as the identification process is extremely painful and difficult.
At this point, of course, it is worth mentioning that no matter how macabre the image of the dismembered victims is, there is absolutely no justification for the statement of the Deputy Minister of Health, Minas Gaga, that "their relatives will not see the people who are no longer alive , so that they are remembered as strong". Dealing with loss is a personal matter and, according to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right of relatives to access the body of the deceased is legally enshrined as an inalienable aspect of the right to respect for family life. Sources of the Ministry of Health clarified today to LiFO that the statements of the deputy minister were probably misinterpreted, as it is a recommendation "so that the next day is less soul-destroying for the relatives", and not a directive.
A second reason for the cloudy picture that prevails regarding the dead and missing is the fact that to this day no one is able to determine with certainty how many passengers were on the train on the fateful night of the collision.
In its first and infuriatingly terse announcement, which did not even contain the slightest mention of dead or injured, Hellenic Train spoke of "about 350 passengers" who continued their journey after the Larissa stop. Their exact number will probably never be revealed, as all the company is able to confirm is the number of tickets issued before the start of the journey ‒ nor the names of the passengers, as there is no identification process during boarding, nor the number of tickets purchased directly from the collector during the journey.
The evacuation of those who survived the impact seems to have been equally chaotic and disorganized, since, according to information, during their departure, the names of those who boarded the first two buses that left for Thessaloniki were neither counted nor identified. Statements of "250 people safely removed from the incident" turned out to be rough estimates, based on the capacity of the vehicles rather than any official report. A more organized plan to remove and count the survivors would clearly help clarify today's tragic toll.
Thus, we arrive at the third cause of confusion regarding the number of dead and missing, which now has to do with the lack of any official body or press representative who announces, at regular intervals, the confirmed numbers through interviews or press releases. The numbers that were published from time to time were the result of sporadic statements made by journalists who were in the field, such as those of the medical examiner from Larissa or the occasional announcements by representatives of the Greek Police. The adoption of a common and central information line, an established international practice in similar tragic events, would certainly have helped to avoid this confused and fragmented picture.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the list of the missing initially did not include a Bangladeshi national, who was identified as dead after forensic examinations. It is not at all unlikely that he is not the only victim of the tragedy that was not on the original list, as dozens of migrants use the railway line in question every day. So here is the tragic detail: in a recent investigation by the Mediterranean Institute of Investigative Journalism, where the perennial problems of the Greek railway network, which make it the deadliest in the whole of Europe, were presented, the alarming increase in deaths and injuries was attributed by the Railway Regulatory Authority to immigrants, who, according to its annual report, "constitute the main problem of Greek railways", as they "do not know the language and cannot understand or read the warning signs and do not follow the safety rules".
Those who were presented as scapegoats, therefore, to justify the perennial problems of the Greek railway network, today it is possible that they are some of the invisible victims of the deadly head-on collision, who may never be identified.
Source: LIFO