The end of the investigation at the scene of the tragedy, the testimony of the head of the station

On Sunday, investigations were completed at the site of the tragic railway accident in Tempi. By noon, all the cars and debris from the terrible collision between two trains had already been removed, followed by a final check for the presence of biological material on the ground.

Damaged trains were transferred to a special area osebetween Larissa and Tempe, for further study by experts.

Meanwhile, the laboratories of the Criminal Investigation Department completed the verification of all samples of biological material collected by special fire departments from the scene of the tragedy, without changing the tragic count of 57 dead.

As it became known from the police, from the first moment until yesterday, 107 samples of human remains were received by the forensic laboratories. The investigation found 55 dead. One of the deceased has not yet been found, since no one was looking for him and there is no reference sample for DNA identification, and the woman is still looking for her daughter, who was on the train, but no trace of her has been found.

In the meantime, the testimony of the 59-year-old head of the railway station, which began late due to a technical problem, is a long marathon. The defendant arrived in the morning before the competent prosecutor under draconian security measures to testify on a “fatal accident” in the Evangelismo area near Tempi, amid outrage at the government’s efforts. The pro-government media blame the catastrophe solely on the human factor.

After a new term, which he received on Saturday in connection with new data during the preliminary investigation, his lawyer Stefanos Pantzartsidis said that these are decisive elements and thanked the journalistic investigation, emphasizing the need to see the forest, not the trees.

The station manager has been charged with violating transport security resulting in the death of several people, a felony punishable by imprisonment for a term of ten years to life in prison. And also in another offense related to manslaughter and causing bodily harm through negligence – sentences of up to 5 years for each.

According to the information, during the pre-trial apology, the stationmaster claimed that he used to press the track change button with an automatic system and each train would take a different track, but, as he explained, the button did not work.

On the one hand, the question arises whether he did the necessary checks on the system’s operability, and on the other hand, whether the cause of the breakdown was an obsolete device, and in any case, whether the station master knew that another train was moving along the same track. It is noted that he had a negative result on the breathalyzer.

In any case, it is difficult to make the stationmaster the only “scapegoat”, as this is an accident that could have been avoided if he had worked with another colleague who helped him due to his inexperience, or if a signaling and control system, as the station workers have been asking for a long time.

As for the dialogues, before the tragic event, the audio document recorded the communication of the station chief with the driver of the fatal train and the locksmith, in which the driver is also heard, who was traveling on the train from Larisa to Volos.

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