Prosecution for former regional governor over Tempe accident scene

A former Thessaly regional governor, Kostas Agorastos, is to be prosecuted over charges of dereliction of duty and other misdemeanors in relation to works conducted at the site of the deadly Tempe train disaster, the region’s prosecutor’s office has announced.

Agorastos is accused by an association of victims and survivors of the crash of giving the go-ahead for the covering of the site of the deadly head-on collision with aggregate stones, which left 57 dead and dozens-more injured in February 2023.

The covering of the site prevented experts from investigating the scene of the crash, as the wrecked train cars were removed from the site, head of the association Maria Karystianou testified before the parliamentary investigating committee in January.

Karystianou, whose daughter was killed in the train crash, testified that she and other victims had been pointing to Agorastos’ alleged culpability since summer of 2023, and that he had told her in private that he was “executing orders” from above when he had the area covered up.