Additional inquiries into Tempe train tragedy

The judge handling the investigations into the train collision in late February last year in Tempe, central Greece, which claimed the lives of 57 people, is to launch additional inquiries regarding allegations and the unanswered questions raised by the relatives of the victims and their technical adviser.

Sotiris Bakaimis, the appellate investigator, is poised to appoint a new expert from the National Technical University of Athens to address the issues raised by the two expert reports that have been submitted to the investigator thus far: one from the expert appointed by the judiciary, and the other from the technical consultant-expert appointed by the victims’ relatives. These reports primarily address whether or not there was flammable material in the wagons and whether or not it contributed to the explosion caused by the collision, greatly increasing the number of fatalities, most of which were young people.

The appointment will be made immediately and in the context of the new order sent days ago to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Appeals Court of Larissa by Supreme Court prosecutor Georgia Adeilini, to leave nothing unanswered.

Apart from the new expert opinion, the appellate investigator is also considering a request from victims’ relatives to send videos submitted to the inquest to a special laboratory in London. Victims’ relatives have complained that parts of the videos have been erased, leaving no complete record of the fatal train’s course. This laboratory has the ability to restore erased data, allowing the inquest to assess it.

At the same time, Bakaimis is considering the option of sending residues of combustible material, which have so far divided experts, to a special laboratory in Canada in order to clarify the extremely important question of whether there was a load on the train and if it contributed to the explosion.

Kathimerini understands that the new investigative actions that have been initiated are considered extremely critical by the investigator and are being expedited in order to avoid – to the greatest extent possible – an extension of the time to complete the investigative work, which is directly related to the start of the trial.

Moreover, on Wednesday, 23 defendants, all non-political individuals, in the much-discussed Contract 717 for the modernization of the railway network, which was not completed on time, with all that this may entail for the tragic accident, requested and were given a deadline to prepare their pleas.