Greece’s centre-right government initially blamed ‘human error’ for the collision involving two trains which, it emerged, had been moving in opposite directions on the same line for some 12 minutes.
The official investigation into the disaster is still going on, with questions still unanswered about signalling, radio communication and the responsibility of the stationmaster in Larissa, the station which the passenger train had just left moments before the head-on crash. The first four carriages were derailed, two of which were engulfed in fire. Some of the victims survived the initial crash, only to perish in the fire.
Founded the summer after the crash, the victims’ association now has more than 240,000 followers on Facebook.
“Because we knew that things were very difficult and that it would be a long-term effort, we wanted to create the conditions for something to keep us focused on our struggle, to help each other, to support each other, to create something strong and comprehensive in the face of the difficult struggle we had to face,” said Karystianou.
To keep the issue in the public eye, the association has organised rallies, debates, two major concerts and a third to come in April; it also submitted a petition to the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions, denouncing what it said was a cover-up, particularly concerning the cargo that the freight train was carrying and which caused the fireball and the clearing of debris at the crash scene that allegedly impeded the collection of evidence.
In March last year, the Committee said the matter would be referred to the parliament’s Justice and Liberties Committee and Transport Committee.
“Our petitions are open; we have hope and we have help from abroad,” said Karystianou, who also mooted the possibility of taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.