Greek parliament to approve new train tragedy investigation

Greece’s parliament was on Tuesday to approve an investigation into possible evidence tampering at the disaster site of the country’s worst train tragedy, which claimed 57 lives in 2023.

The government was to support a vote in the late evening to set up a preliminary investigative committee that will examine whether the swift rehabilitation of the site had destroyed vital evidence.

Suspicion has fallen on Christos Triantopoulos, a senior aide to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the time. Triantopoulous was overseeing relief efforts.

Triantopoulos has denied any involvement in what opposition parties have called an improper bulldozing of the site just days after the accident.

Mitsotakis, who is under fire over his government’s handling of the case, had already pledged his party’s support for the parliamentary probe.

Opinion polls show a strong majority of Greeks believe the government has attempted to cover up evidence into the tragedy.

Hundreds of thousands turned out at protest rallies nationwide on Friday, the second anniversary of the tragedy, to demand justice for the victims, in one of the largest mobilisations recorded in Greece.

A previous parliamentary committee investigating the tragedy concluded last March without assigning blame to senior politicians.

Critics noted that the committee, which was headed by a ruling party MP, had declined to interview key witnesses including Triantopoulos.

The accident occurred on February 28, 2023, when a train from Athens to Thessaloniki carrying more than 350 passengers collided with a freight train near the central city of Larissa.

The two trains had travelled towards each other on the same track for miles without triggering any alarms. The accident was blamed on faulty equipment and human error.

Over 40 people have been prosecuted, including the local station master responsible for routing the trains, but a trial into the accident is not expected before the end of the year.