The Greek students who saved the lives of their fellow passengers in the Tempi railway disaster will be honored in Vatican.
They were there during the tragedy, laying down their lives to save others. Nearly 8 months following the train accident, the two Greek students are receiving honors.
Despite the passage of time, memories of the national tragedy in Tempi remain.
The two brave Greek students chose to stay despite having the chance to depart during those chaotic first minutes. They remained on the scene and fought to free the injured who were trapped and save lives.
Who are the Greek students that are honored in Vatican?
The Volunteerism and Social Solidarity Award will be given to 20-year-old Andreas Alikaniotis and 19-year-old Angelos Tsiamouras who sacrificially rescued dozens of people from the burning train at the end of last February in Tempi, after the railway accident.
The young students, who rushed to help whoever they could, will be awarded on Saturday 7 October 2023 at the Aula Magna, at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in the Vatican, where the annual ceremony of the “Vexillum Giuseppe Sciacca” International Awards will take place.
Aside from the two students, the Giuseppe Sciacca Awards will honor the Professor of Pediatrics – Endocrinology Georgios Chrousos with the Medical Science Prize in the presence of the illustrious Cardinal Ryamond Leo Burke.
The Tempi railway disaster
On February 28, 2023, two trains collided nearly halfway between the Greek villages of Tempi and Evangelismos in the Thessaly area. The InterCity 62 passenger train collided with an intermodal goods train, killing 57 people.
The tragic crash involved 342 passengers, 10 onboard railroad employees on the passenger train, and 2 staff members on the freight train.
This was the deadliest rail accident in Greek history. It was also the deadliest rail accident to strike Europe in ten years.
It was found that, despite the freight train being on the same track, the IC62 passenger train had been allowed to travel on the incorrect track and pass danger signs.
Young students made up the majority of the fatalities. Many of them had gathered in the dining car at the front of the train after returning from a three-day vacation.
Why did the Tempi railway disaster occur?
Experts have said that the accident was probably caused by human error. The president of the train drivers’ association, Kostas Genidounias, revealed that the electronic systems that warn drivers of danger ahead, that are common throughout Europe, have not been working for years.
“Nothing works, everything is done manually. We are ‘in manual mode’ throughout the Athens-Thessaloniki network,” he said, emphasizing that neither the indicators, the traffic lights, nor the electronic traffic control is working.
The neglect of the remote signaling systems on the Greek railway network is one of the major causes of the train disaster in Greece which claimed the lives of at least 57 people.
Although the station master at Larissa seems to have made fatal decisions on the night of the accident, the whole railway system was archaic. Remote surveillance and signaling systems, which control train traffic and guide drivers, had not been functioning properly for years.
Larissa station had a local signaling system that tracked trains for a distance of about 5 km (3 miles). That meant station masters had to communicate with each other and drivers by radio to cover gaps, and signals were operated manually.
Railway unions have blamed years of underinvestment and understaffing – a legacy of Greece’s decade-long debt crisis.