Anger across Greece over the tragic train crash, which claimed the lives of 57 people in central Greece is mounting as citizens are demanding answers for the causes that lead to the fatal accident. The New York Times published a series of interviews with some of the friends of the victims of the crash and their horrific experiences:

When Yannis Antonoglou, 23, saw his friend’s girlfriend reading in the cafeteria of his train, he thought it was a funny coincidence. They had met a few days before at a friend’s party in Athens. They were both returning to Thessaloniki, and he thought they could share a cab or meet for coffee there.

But the cafeteria was at the front of the train that collided head-on with a freight train late Tuesday, in the deadliest rail crash in Greece’s history. Mr. Antonoglou learned about a day later that rescuers might not even find his friend’s girlfriend’s body.

“I could have stayed in the cafeteria,” Mr. Antonoglou, a college student, said in an interview. “And be charred with 30 other people.”

After years of pandemic-forced cancellations, Athens hosted carnival last weekend, and many Greeks took advantage of the long weekend to travel or celebrate. Interviews with survivors and with victims’ families and friends revealed the crash’s tragic toll on young students and workers returning from vacation.

By Thursday, the death toll had climbed to 57, as search teams kept pulling bodies from the twisted wreckage. Some had to be identified using DNA because the crash was so violent that it left the bodies unrecognizable. Dozens of survivors were still in the hospital.

Across Greece, anger grew over the country’s dismal rail safety record. The two trains, carrying about 350 people, had raced toward each other for 12 minutes before colliding, according to the head of the federation of railway employees.

On Wednesday, protesters clashed in Athens with the police outside the headquarters of Hellenic Train, the company responsible for maintaining Greece’s railways. Demonstrations were also reported in Larissa, near the site of the crash, and in Thessaloniki, the passenger train’s destination.

The Panhellenic Federation of Railway Employees declared a 24-hour strike, so no trains were running on Thursday in Greece.

authors Emma Bubola from Thessaloniki, Greece, and Iliana Magra from Athens.

read more at nytimes.com