On Friday, a report by technical consultant Vasilis Kokotsakis, appointed by some families of the Tempi victims, was submitted to the appellate investigator in Larissa. The report concludes that 30 of the 57 total victims died later due to flammable liquids, rather than directly from the collision.
The report challenges the Fire Department’s explanation, which attributes the explosion to the normal combustion of the two trains following their collision caused by the ignition of silicone oils in their engine transformers. Instead, the expert states that such explosions can only result from the combustion of chemical solvents. Siemens, the manufacturer of the trains, also rejects the Fire Department’s explanation in a letter, stating it does not know the explosion’s cause.
These findings raise renewed questions about the cause of the explosion. According to experts representing the victims’ families, it is linked to flammable cargo that was secretly transported by the freight train. However, audiovisual material from the loading process cannot be retrieved.
The request by the victims’ relatives to upgrade the charges against two Hellenic Train executives from misdemeanors to felonies was denied.
The report includes an analysis linking transcriptions of passenger calls to 112 with audiovisual material from the accident. In the recordings, surviving passengers can be heard shouting, “I can’t breathe” and “I have very little oxygen.” Simultaneously, video footage from a Fire Department drone captures individuals among the wreckage shortly after the collision.
Furthermore, the request by the victims’ relatives to upgrade the charges against two Hellenic Train executives—CEO Maurizio Capotorto and another senior official—from a misdemeanor to a felony was rejected, as they are the only defendants out of 42 facing misdemeanor charges.
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