Two years after the tragic railway collision at Tempi, Gerasimos Iasonas, the sole survivor from the front carriage of the doomed passenger train, is making his way back to Greece.
The 22-year-old has been in a deep coma since February 28, 2023, when he was thrown from the train during its collision with a freight train in central Greece. 57 people -mostly young students lost their lives in the disaster – that haunts Greece to this day.
The sole survivor of Tempi is still in a coma
Despite extensive medical efforts, including nearly a year of treatment in the US, doctors have been unable to bring him back to consciousness.
Iasonas is now being transferred from a specialized Rehabilitation Center in Milan, where he has been hospitalized since early December 2024, to a hospital in Larissa, central Greece.
For two years, he has shown no signs of regaining consciousness. His family has pursued prolonged treatment in private facilities abroad, but his condition remains unchanged.
Tempi disaster haunts Greece
Greece is bracing for mass demonstrations on February 28 as the country marks two years since the tragic train collision in Tempi in central Greece.
The government fears the protests may spiral into the largest wave of public dissent since the 2012 economic crisis, with social media fueling renewed outrage.
Officials at the Prime Minister’s Office anticipate large-scale unrest, citing a surge in online anti-government posts, many of which call for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to step down.
The legal investigation into the disaster remains fraught with delays. Critics accuse the government of stalling justice, while Mitsotakis and his ministers insist they are committed to full transparency.
Allegations of a “cover-up”
Mitsotakis rejects what he called conspiracy theories and political opportunism, and states that national tragedies should not be reduced to partisan attacks. He emphasizes that judicial authorities, not politicians, are responsible for determining the facts.
PASOK leader Androulakis recently amplified his concerns about a government cover-up.
“A cover-up is to strategically mislead public opinion through fake news because elections are coming. Did New Democracy do this? It did. A few hours after the tragedy, they sent trumped-up conversations of the stationmaster to friendly mass media to reinforce the narrative of human error. The Prime Minister said he was adamant that engine oil was to blame and there was nothing else. Were they misleading the public? Of course!” Androulakis said, and stressed that there was also a withholding of evidence from the judiciary.
Related: Greek Students Rally Against Alleged Cover-Up of Tempi Tragedy