Greece Train Crash Leaves At Least 29 Dead and 85 Injured After 2 Trains Catch on Fire: 'Shocking'
At least 29 people are dead and 85 injured after a commercial train and a passenger train collided and derailed in Greece on Tuesday.
The incident happened at the entrance of Tempe Valley on the Athens-Thessaloniki route just before midnight, said Vasilios Vathrakogiannis, a fire brigade spokesperson in a release shared on its website. Tempe is a small town next to a valley where major highway and rail tunnels are located, some 235 miles north of Athens, according to the Associated Press.
Roughly 40 firefighters, 17 emergency vehicles and 30 ambulances rushed to the scene. Local hospitals were also put on alert to treat burn patients, according to the press release. Thessaly's army and military units were brought in on an "alert protocol", which is standard for accidents like this one, Vathrakogiannis said.
At the time of the press briefing, emergency crews were still trying to help passengers get out, however, many had been safely rescued.
Though Vathrakogiannis said 16 people had died, multiple outlets have reported that the death toll is now at least 29. The 85 people who were hurt were taken to nearby hospitals.
youtube
Many said they saw their fellow passengers being tossed out of the window when the trains collided, while others tried to escape when the passenger train was forced to hit a nearby field, according to the Associated Press.
One teenager told reporters in Greece that he was getting off a train when another one jerked. He then saw sparks before it abruptly stopped.
"Our carriage didn't derail, but the ones in front did and were smashed," he said, per the AP. He managed to get out of his train when he used a bag to smash his car window after the first car in line went up in flames.
youtube
RELATED: Officials Say Plane Broke Apart Before Crash that Killed 5, Including New Dad of 1-Month-Old Baby
Costas Agorastos, regional governor for Thessaly described the crash as "very powerful" in a TV interview, according to the AP. He added that it was "a terrible night."
"The front section of the train was smashed," he added. "We're getting cranes to come in and special lifting equipment clear the debris and lift the rail cars. There's debris flung all around the crash site."
One of the passengers, Angelos Tsiamouras, compared the crash to "an earthquake" as another recalled, "There was panic in the carriage, people were screaming," according to BBC.
RELATED VIDEO: 5 People Killed in Ambulance Plane Crash in Nevada: 'We Are Heartbroken'
A passenger also said it was "very shocking. I wasn't hurt but I was stained with blood from other people who were hurt near me."
Greek railway company Hellenic Train confirmed there were roughly 350 people on board.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
"At Evangelismos, there was a head-on collision between two trains: a freight train and train IC 62, which had departed from Athens to Thessaloniki," the company told ABC News. "Firefighters and Hellenic Train personnel rushed to the scene, participating in rescue operations and providing assistance to travelers."
Hellenic did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
