Death toll in northern Greece train accident climbs to 46

The death toll in the northern Greece train crash has climbed to 46, with at least 10 people still missing, state media said on March 2.

Rescue workers, including firefighters, are searching for survivors after a passenger train carrying more than 350 people collided with a freight train in the town of Tempi, near the city of Larissa, causing the front carriages to derail and burst into flames, Anadolu reports.

At least seven more bodies were recovered today, according to public broadcaster ERT.

At least 72 injured passengers were hospitalized, with 15 of them having been discharged.

The victims include nine railway employees and university students returning to school in the northern port city of Thessaloniki from Larissa and Athens.

Psychologists were also sent to the Larissa General Hospital to provide support to the families of the victims and passengers.

Nikos Sguris, one of the rescuers, told Anadolu that the trains collided as both were moving at high speed, and the fire was further fueled by cooking oil stored in the restaurant area.

Vasilis Iliopoulos, another volunteer rescuer, said it is unlikely anyone will come out alive from the wreckage of the collision.

Meanwhile, the station master in Larissa, who was arrested after the crash, will appear before a prosecutor, state news agency AMNA reported.

It said the station master is considered to be responsible for the accident, in which two trains moving in opposite directions ended up on the same track in a head-on collision, and will be charged with manslaughter through negligence, bodily harm through negligence, and dangerous interventions in means of transportation.