Fire After Fatal Greek Train Collision Attributed to ‘Unknown Fuel’
Source: Balkan Insight
Greece’s National Aviation Investigation Agency and Railway Accidents and Transportation Safety agency, EODASAAM, said in a report published on Thursday that the fireball that erupted after a freight train and a passenger train collided on February 2023, adding to the total death toll of 57, indicated the possible presence of unknown flammable material.
Footage from three cameras indicated that the fire that followed the collision lasted about 10 seconds but created a very large thermal load for structures and passengers within its radiation range.
It extended upwards and burned at a height of 30 to 40 metres above the coaches. In the resulting fires on the lower ground area, the restaurant and second-class car were completely burned.
State-appointed experts announced in their report in 2023 that silicone oil from the transformers carried by the freight train was the primary cause of the explosion.
However, technical advisors designated by the families of victims reported that unknown flammable material had caused the fireball, an argument supported by EODASAAM.
“There is no indication that the technical equipment of the rolling stock that was used gave rise to the formation and expansion of the enormous fireball that arose after the impact and subsequently resulted in the secondary fires.
“With the existing evidence is impossible to determine what exactly caused it, but simulations and expert reports indicate the possible presence of a hitherto unknown fuel,” EODASAAM said.
Due to this disagreement over causes, the investigator requested a new report in March 2024 from a professor of the School of Chemical Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, Dimitris Karonis.
Hellenic Train, a private railway company in Greece owned by Trenitalia, which operates passenger and freight trains, denies carrying any flammable material.
Besides this, EODASAAM reaffirmed the families of victims’ and their lawyers’ arguments that at least five to six people survived the collision but were burned alive.
“There is enough evidence to support the finding that 5 persons survived the initial impacts but were unable to escape while the fire was spreading towards their trapped position. Further to this, there is indication to support the hypothesis that another 2 (to possibly 4) casualties could have been alive at the same time and subsequently lost their lives in the fire,” concluded the agency.
The government’s spokesperson, Pavlos Marinakis, said the new findings “like any finding, will be evaluated by the judiciary”.
Demonstrations have been organised for February 28 all over Greece and abroad marking two years since the train crash.
The original article: belongs to Balkan Insight .
