Following the significant march by students and train employees in Athens on Monday, the Greek prime minister on Sunday apologized to the relatives of the 57 people who died in the country’s worst rail accident.
“As prime minister, I owe it to everyone, but especially to the victims’ relatives, (to ask for) forgiveness,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated in a letter addressed to the nation.
Greece is reeling from the shock of the passenger and freight train collision.
The remark posted on his Facebook page, Mitsotakis said that two trains traveling in opposite directions could not use the same track without anyone noticing.
It reads: “Today I would like to write about the untold tragedy in Tempe. No wooden words, no repeating the trivial. Making an effort to put my thoughts and feelings into words.
“And I’m starting with the obvious. As Prime Minister, I owe everyone, but above all to the relatives of the victims, a big SORRY. Both personal, and in the name of all those who have ruled the country for years. Why, indeed, in Greece of 2023, it is not possible that two trains are moving oppositely on the same line and no one has noticed it.
“We can’t, won’t and shouldn’t hide behind human error. If the work of the Television Control had been completed, this accident would have been practically impossible to have happened. The fact that the Digital Control System will be fully operational in the coming months is no excuse. And the other way around. Makes my pain even bigger that we didn’t get to end it before something bad happened.
“Justice will quickly investigate the tragedy and deliver responsibilities. While in the coming days the minister in charge will announce measures to immediately improve railway safety until the EGO is completed. Now, we owe it a debt to stand by the victims’ families, by boldly acknowledging the mistakes of the state.
“But they’re not enough. I will immediately ask the European Commission and friendly countries for their contribution to know-how so that we can finally obtain modern trains. And I will be fighting to get additional community funding in order to quickly maintain and upgrade the existing network.
“Finally, I will suggest that all parties commit from now on that, in the next Parliament, a Special Committee will be set up to investigate the painful history of Greek railways throughout the last twenty years. What hasn’t been done in so many years must be done now and quickly.
“We all know that our homeland railways are deeply problematic. It is perhaps the extreme expression of a Greece that does not suit us and we want to leave it behind.
“I know that many today will remember the phrase of one of my predecessors that “this is Greece”. But no, she’s not the only one. There is another Greece, out there, that gives us hope, faith and strength.
“We’ve all seen her even after the tragic accident. To the firefighters, rescuers and the EKAB who were there from the first moment. To the doctors and health workers who immediately organized the care of the injured. Am in the Army. But also to the Police experts who quickly handled the painful mission of identifying the bodies. So they can be returned to their families to mourn.
“We saw the face of the best Greece, too, in the passengers who risked their lives to save their fellow passengers. To the Greek women and the Greeks who rushed united to donate blood. But also to the young children who protested silently and peacefully, holding a candle and with the slogan “it’s the bad time (x) is to blame”. A slogan whose truth hurts us all.
“Personally, I’m in politics to change this “bad country”, this old Greece that hurts us. This is why I try, everyday. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I don’t. I know well, however, how much better we can make our homeland if we sweep away the remains of the past that hold us back. And for this Greece that we deserve I will continue to fight.
“This is where I stop. Today, Sunday of Orthodoxy, we all light a candle in memory of those who left so unjustly and so soon.”
Families and friends of the victims of the tragic train disaster on Tuesday were also anticipated to assemble on Sunday for a memorial outside Larissa station in central Greece, close to the scene of the catastrophe.
The station master accused of being responsible for the accident was scheduled to appear in court on Sunday; the hearing had been postponed from the day before. He could be charged with negligent homicide.
