An event to commemorate the 57 victims of the tragic Tempi accident will take place on Sunday 21 January at the Larissa Railways Cultural Centre.
Through the molten iron of the twisted remains of the trains, the shattered lives of the victims, the deep unspeakable pain and grief of their families, a metaphysical awareness emerges – as it does in all inexplicable tragedies that make a person “a grain of sand in the wind.” Today we will talk about the infamous “cursed valley” of Tempi.
21-year-old Gerasimos-Iasonas Georgiadis, the only survivor of the first carriage of the fatal train in Tempi, together with his family and a team of scientists, was sent to the USA (Boston) to undergo treatment in a specialized rehabilitation center.
The goal is to “bring the guy back to life”, since his health is improving, but lately it still remains persistently serious. The 21-year-old ΑΠΘ mechanical engineering student fought for his life, having spent nine months in the Larissa hospital, most of which in the intensive care unit, with a diagnosis of severe traumatic brain injury.
A miniature railway network will be unveiled in honor of the victims, which operates “in complete safety and remote control”. This project was started in 1970 by Spyros Vasilakopoulos, after whose death his family decided to make a donation in memory of the victims of the Tempi tragedy. This is a model (layout) of a full-fledged railway network with train movement, stations and traffic lights. Trains are running “in complete safety,” said Yiannis Mantos, president of the Railway Cultural Center.
There are many places on the planet that are commonly called evil or cursed. There, often out of the blue, disasters with multiple casualties periodically occur. Not all of these places are far from civilization. One of them is located in Greece – in the Tempi Valley.
Tempi Valley is considered one of the most dangerous sections of the Greek road network. This is the narrowest place, the “passage”, since the times when the highway subsequently laid there was not yet in sight. Since the Turkish yoke, even when Tempi was called “Baba”, it was one of the places where the deadliest ambushes were carried out with many killed. The Tempi Valley was characterized by dense vegetation, impenetrable forests and narrow paths running among the rocks. All this created excellent opportunities for robbers lying in wait for travelers in ambush. The unfortunate people were robbed and often killed. The “cursed place” became synonymous with the “passage of Acheron” – the “gate to the underworld.” And this passage is not at all mythical…
A little history
Tempi is a valley in Greece that forms between Mount Olympus and Ossa. Its length is 10 kilometers, while at the narrowest point a gorge is formed 25 meters wide and about 500 meters deep. The Pinios River flows inside it, which then flows into the Aegean Sea. Tempi is the main route from Macedonia to Thessaly and for this reason the area has been of great importance since ancient times.
The name Tempi has been preserved since antiquity. During the Turkish occupation, Tempi was also called Baba. A small village at the entrance to the valley, now called Tempi, also had the same name. At the western entrance to Tempi, the tomb of Hassan Baba is preserved, which recalls the atrocities of the Turks and historical battles in the gorge. Near the exit from Tempi there is a spring known since ancient times as the “Fountain of Daphne”.
Since ancient times Tempi has had great strategic importance for the transfer of troops from Macedonia to Southern Greece. Historians describe with great emphasis the attempts of armies to pass unscathed, defending themselves from opponents. From the Persians to the Romans, to the Germans who arrived in Tempi on April 16, 1941, crossing the valley was a difficult task, requiring good knowledge of the area and a well-thought-out strategy.
Road safety began to experience particular problems from the mid-20th century. In 1959, with the opening of the Larisa-Katherini section of the then new Athens-Thessaloniki national road, the Tempi area was described by drivers as a “pass of death” with many turns and steep crossings. Today The railway line and the Athens-Thessaloniki national road pass through the area. This oneThe area is the bottleneck of the national road and one of the most dangerous sections of the Greek road network..
Due to the geomorphology in the Tempi area There have been several fatal accidents.
- On 4 October 1999, a bus carrying PAOK fans collided with a small truck, killing 6 passengers and the bus driver.
- On April 13, 2003, a truck transporting timber from Provatona Evros to Athens collided head-on with a bus at the 388th kilometer, in which there were students from the 1st secondary school from Makrichori Imathia, returning from a trip to Athens, resulting in death 21 people. This crash is also linked to the suicide of a 35-year-old survivor of the July 4, 2022 crash.
- On February 28, 2023, at 11:21 p.m. local time, a passenger train collided head-on with a commercial train traveling on the same track in the opposite direction, killing 57 people and injuring dozens more. Most of the victims were students between 18 and 25 years old. This accident is the worst railway tragedy in Greek history.
The only survivor from the first carriage
21-year-old Gerasimos-Iasonas Georgiadis, the only survivor of the first carriage of the fatal train in Tempi, together with his family and a team of scientists, was sent to the USA (Boston) to undergo treatment in a specialized rehabilitation center.
The goal is to “bring the guy back to life”, since his health is improving, but lately it still remains persistently serious. The 21-year-old ΑΠΘ mechanical engineering student fought for his life, having spent nine months in the Larissa hospital, most of which in the intensive care unit, with a diagnosis of severe traumatic brain injury.
In the summer of 2023, he was transferred to Hannover (Germany) to a special rehabilitation center, where he stayed for only 10 days, since contracting a nosocomial infection during hospitalization in Greece could not be treated, so he was returned to the Larissa hospital. And now Gerasimos was sent to Boston.
Let us remind you that train accident in Tempe occurred on February 28, 2023. It was found that due to Due to the unqualified actions of the Larisa station chief, 2 trains were sent towards each other: intercity express Athens-Thessaloniki IC62 and freight train. The first two carriages with passengers turned into a pile of twisted metal. 58 people died. 54 people were hospitalized with serious injuries. The case caused wide public response.
Tempi Valley is considered one of the most dangerous sections of the Greek road network. This is the narrowest place, the “passage”, since the times when the highway subsequently laid there was not yet in sight. Since the Turkish yoke, even when Tempi was called “Baba”, it was one of the places where the deadliest ambushes were carried out with many killed. The Tempi Valley was characterized by dense vegetation, impenetrable forests and narrow paths running among the rocks. All this created excellent opportunities for robbers lying in wait for travelers in ambush. The unfortunate people were robbed and often killed. The “cursed place” became synonymous with the “passage of Acheron” – the “gate to the underworld.” And this passage is not at all mythical…
In the summer of 2023, he was transferred to Hannover (Germany) to a special rehabilitation center, where he stayed for only 10 days, since contracting a nosocomial infection during hospitalization in Greece could not be treated, so he was returned to the Larissa hospital. And now Gerasimos was sent to Boston.
Let us remind you that train accident in Tempe occurred on February 28, 2023. It was found that due to Due to the unqualified actions of the Larisa station chief, 2 trains were sent towards each other: intercity express Athens-Thessaloniki IC62 and freight train. The first two carriages with passengers turned into a pile of twisted metal. 58 people died. 54 people were hospitalized with serious injuries. The case caused wide public response.
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