State accident investigators probing the cause of Greece’s worst train crash on Thursday ruled out technical equipment and rolling stock for causing a huge fireball that erupted after impact, killing survivors.
But they did point to the “possible presence” of an “unknown fuel” at the scene.
Fifty-seven people, most of them young students, died in February 2023, when a passenger train and a freight train collided in Tempe, central Greece, after being allowed to run on the same track.
Some survivors — up to seven according to state accident investigators but around 30 according to families — were killed by an 80-metre (260-feet) fireball after the collision.
An experts’ report funded by the victims’ families has previously claimed that the freight train was carrying an illegal and unreported load of explosive chemicals, which contributed to the high death toll.
The train’s Italian-owned operator Hellenic Trail has denied knowledge of any illegal cargo on the freight train.
In a report published on Thursday, Greece’s aviation and railway safety investigation agency said there was “no indication that the technical equipment of the rolling stock used gave rise to the formation and expansion of the enormous fireball that arose after the impact”.
“With the existing evidence it is impossible to determine what exactly caused it, but simulations indicate the possible presence of a hitherto unknown fuel,” the report said.
The report was released a day before the second anniversary of the tragedy on Friday, which will be marked by sweeping strikes and hundreds of protests in Greece and abroad.
The agency noted that dramatic cuts imposed during the 2009-2018 Greek economic crisis had greatly undermined the country’s rail network both in staff and resources.
It said that “a series of technical defects and malfunctions, some specific for that day but others already present for several weeks and sometimes even years” had forced overworked staff to push themselves to the limit.
The report found that Greece’s state rail organisation OSE manages its station masters in a way that “does not guarantee that they are competent in the safety-related tasks for which they are responsible”.
It noted that OSE was “stretching the limits of their operational staff beyond what is humanly acceptable in a sustainable way”.
In addition, the train’s operator Hellenic Train “could not demonstrate that they had put in place an on-going training in particular for safety-related communications and relevant non-technical competencies”.