TIRANA, March 9, 2023 – Albanian authorities have officially confirmed that six of the 57 victims of the rail crash in northern Greece were Albanians.
The Albanian national flag was lowered last Sunday at half-mast as a national day of mourning was observed in Albania for the victims of the train accident in Greece.
The foreign ministry named the Albanian nationals who died, some of whom were dual citizens, as Klaudia Lata, Ifiggenia Micka, Erieta Molko, Ioanis Xhiollas, Denis Ruçi and Pavlin Bozo.
Two other Albanians, Roberto Dristi, 25, and Anisa Liuri, 23, are receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Center in Larisa due to injuries sustained in this accident.
Albanians on the doomed passenger train ranged from students going back to their university to rail staff, according to local media reports.
A vigil for all the dead in the crash was also held in the southeastern Albanian city of Korca, which has strong human ties to Thessaloniki, where many of the victims lived.
The massive collision between a passenger train and a freight train happened 32 km from Larissa in northern Greece pm Feb. 28. Greek news media reported that a station manager had directed the freight train onto the same track as the passenger train before they collided. He has been arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The Greek authorities announced on Sunday that they completed the checks in the laboratories of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations of all samples of biological material that were collected by the fire brigade at the site of the accident and the official confirmation remains for 57 dead.
According to the authorities, one of the victims remains unidentified and it is suspected that he is a foreign citizen.
At the scene of the accident all the wagons and debris from the horrific collision between the two trains have been removed and according to the authorities there remains a final check for any biological material on the ground.
Meanwhile, the manager of the Larisa station appeared on Sunday morning at the Prosecutor’s Office under strict security measures. He is being prosecuted for manslaughter after he allowed two trains to run head-on on the same railway line.
According to his lawyer, he has accepted “the part of the responsibility that belongs to him,” while the Greek legislation provides sentences from 10 years to life imprisonment for this criminal offense.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday apologized again for the accident.
“Justice will quickly investigate the tragedy and assign responsibility because in the Greece of 2023 it is not possible for two trains to move in opposite directions on the same line and no one has noticed,” Mr. Mitsotakis said. “We cannot, we do not want and we should not hide behind human error.”
Photo: A vigil for the victims of the crash was held in the southeastern Albanian city of Korca. (PDP)
