Late on Tuesday two passenger trains in Greece collided. This led to the death of at least 36 people. There are also 85 people that are injured. Out of the 85, 66 are hospitalized and 6 are in critical condition. Officials are still searching the wreckage for more bodies. One of the trains was heading from Athens to Thessaloniki. Both trains were derailed and some train cars were tipped. The cause of this crash is unknown now, but the station master has been detained for questioning.

The crash was so bad that in order to move the trains off the tracks, they had to use cranes to move them. Some cars still had people in them when the cars were moved. The 194 passengers that remained were bussed to Thessaloniki. The Prime Minister of Greece, Kostas Karamanlis, has pledged to investigate the cause of the incident. There were 150 emergency vehicles deployed to the scene.

Most of the passengers were young, some in college. There were no American citizens on the train, as confirmed by the US Embassy. The US Embassy said, “We are deeply saddened by the news of the tragic train collision this morning.” Greece has declared 3 days of national mourning for the victims of this tragic incident. Police will be further investigating how this happened, and if it was caused on purpose. It is truly sad if this was planned by a group or organization. There was a train crash similar to this in Greece in 1968, where 34 people were killed. Greece is in the top ten in countries with the highest train mortality rates, at number 7.