Greek transport minister Kostas Karamanlis has resigned following a rail crash which killed at least 36 people, saying he felt it was his “duty” to step down, Breaking News reports.
The announcement came after Greek police said the stationmaster in the city of Larissa has been arrested following the head-on crash that left at least 85 people injured.
A police statement identified the suspect only as a 59-year-old man. Another two people have been detained for questioning.
Mr Karamanlis said he felt it was his “duty” to step down “as a basic indication of respect for the memory of the people who died so unfairly”.
Fire Service officials said 36 people were killed and at least 85 were hurt after multiple train carriages derailed and at least three caught on fire after the crash between a passenger train and a freight train just before midnight near Tempe, some 235 miles north of Athens.
Visiting the accident scene, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that the government must help the injured recover and identify the dead.
“I can guarantee one thing: We will find out the causes of this tragedy and we will do all that’s in our power so that something like this never happens again,” Mr Mitsotakis said.
On Wednesday, the government declared three days of national mourning, while flags flew at half-staff outside all European Commission buildings in Brussels.
Rescue crews illuminated the scene with floodlights before dawn on Wednesday as they searched frantically through the twisted, smoking wreckage for survivors.
Survivors said several passengers were thrown through the windows of the train carriages due to the impact.
They said others fought to free themselves after the passenger train buckled, slamming into a field next to the tracks near a gorge about 235 miles north of Athens where major highway and rail tunnels are located.
“There were many big pieces of steel,” said Vassilis Polyzos, a local resident who was one of the first people on the scene. “The trains were completely destroyed, both passenger and freight trains.”
