Three more officials charged in Greece for last week's train crash

MADRID, 9 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Greek authorities have expanded the case for the collision of two trains last week, which left 57 dead, and have charged an inspector and two station workers with a series of charges, which no longer only appears as a potential responsible of the accident the head of the Larisa station.

The three new defendants are accused of negligent homicide and for acting against transportation security, a charge that is liable to be punished with life imprisonment.

The designated inspector is now considered responsible for placing the first defendant, with hardly any experience, in charge of the station to cover the night shift. He is blamed for an error that would have caused the two trains, one of them with about 350 passengers on board, to run on the same track, reports the newspaper 'Kathimerini'.

The other two defendants are station workers who were supposed to be at their posts until 11:00 p.m. but had left earlier. The collision of the two convoys occurred about 20 minutes after the theoretical end of the shift for both on February 28.

The accident has led to massive protests in the streets of various cities and criticism in the political arena. Hours after the incident, the Minister of Transport resigned and the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has promised to take measures so that it does not happen again.

The unions of the Greek railway system have informed this Thursday that the workers will continue on strike until at least this Friday to protest the precarious situation of the sector and the poor conditions of the infrastructure.