Teen’s chilling last words before tragic death in fatal train crash that k
Source: Daily Star – World News
Maria Karystianou was initially told her daughter, Mathi, 19, died instantly in the crash but a phone recording reveals the young woman’s final moments after a government “cover-up”
A devastated mum has revealed the chilling last five words her 19 year old daughter uttered before her tragic death in Greece’s deadliest train disaster ever, which claimed 57 lives in 2023.
Maria Karystianou is accusing officials of a cover-up over the death of her daughter Mathi. Maria, 52, was initially informed that Mathi died on impact when the InterCity 62 from Athens to Thessaloniki collided with a freight train.
However, a mobile phone recording from another passenger, sent to emergency services, suggests that the truth might be different as it captured the final exchange between Mathi and her friend.
Mathi was returning from a carnival in Patras, a city in the south, with her best mate Francesca on February 28, 2023. The Sunday Times reports that Maria’s solicitor let her listen to the phone clip, where she recognised Francesca’s voice.
The grieving mother recounted the heart-wrenching last conversation caught on tape. Maria revealed: “I could hear her talking to my daughter, saying, ‘Marthi, we are going to die, I love you’.”
In another part of the recording, Francesca also said: “We have no oxygen.”
Maria further disclosed: “For three horrible minutes Marthi was alive with her friend. The recordings showed people were not just alive but conscious and able to talk about what was happening to them.”
In a heart-wrenching account, Maria revealed that her daughter Marthi was one of the teenagers tragically killed when a blazing inferno engulfed their train.
The fire was so intense that when Maria visited the site three days later, she couldn’t identify her daughter’s body.
Initially, Maria was inclined to believe that “human error” was to blame for the catastrophe, as it was reported that the station master had switched the tracks, causing the passenger train to collide with a freight train.
However, her stance shifted when the station master, who is facing homicide charges, refuted claims of knowing about the impending danger.
Questions have been raised about the station master’s age, 59, which is considered beyond the typical retirement age for such a role in Greece.
Furthermore, there are concerns over why the passenger train was on the wrong track for an extended period, despite a €41 million safety system upgrade, partly funded by the EU, that should have prevented such an incident.
The project, meant to be completed in 2016, has been marred by allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement. Maria lamented: “Of course this was an accident, but it was an avoidable accident.”
Speculation is rife about the cause of the devastating blaze, with one expert suggesting that highly volatile chemicals on board the train could be to blame for the fireball, though this theory has not been officially confirmed.
The Greek government has vowed to address the “very serious shortcomings and understaffing and underfunding” highlighted in a 180-page report on the catastrophe, reports the Mirror.
The centre-right administration has rebuffed any suggestions that it obstructed the probe into the calamity. Yet, a grief-stricken mother lambasted the Greek political class, stating: “Traditionally in Greece, politicians are never guilty of anything and this is the big problem.”
She continued with a plea for justice: “I just want justice to be served and to be sure that something like this will never happen again. I know that’s what my daughter would have wanted.”
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