Massacre after trains collided near the Greek city of Larissa

Two trains collided in northern Greece, killing at least 32 people and injuring dozens, according to emergency services.

Rescuers worked through the night trying to free passengers who were on a train when it crashed near the city of Larissa.

The train, which was carrying 350 passengers, collided with a freight train.

Footage published on local news websites showed thick plumes of smoke rising from derailed vehicles.

The fire service said about 150 firefighters and 40 ambulances were on the scene.

It is not yet known what caused the collision with the passenger train, which was traveling between Thessaloniki and Larissa.

“We heard a big explosion,” said passenger Stergios Mennes, quoted by Reuters news agency.

“It was terrifying ten seconds. We were turning the cart until we fell on our side and until the noise stopped. Then there was panic. Wires and fire. The fire was instantaneous.”

“While we were tossing and turning we were burning. Right and left there was fire… For ten or fifteen seconds it was chaos. Falls, fires, cables hanging, windows broken, people screaming, people trapped. It was two meters high. From where we jumped to leave and under it there was broken iron wreckage but what can we do? “

Another passenger, Angelos Tsiamuras, told local media that the crash felt like an earthquake.

Another passenger, Lazus, told Protothema the experience was “absolutely horrible”.

“It was a very strong collision,” Kostas Agorastos, governor of Thessaly region, told state television. In quotes quoted by the Associated Press. “This is a terrible night… It’s hard to describe the scene.”

Vassilis Varthakoyannis, a spokesman for the fire service, told reporters that conditions for rescue workers were “very difficult” due to the “severity of the collision”.

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