Nine bodies have been identified from DNA samples provided yesterday by relatives of the victims, and the process will continue as quickly as possible, he said, citing railway accident V Tempe government spokesman Yannis Oikonomou, while stressing that “we, as a state, are obliged to officially take responsibility and do everything so that such moments do not happen again.” At a briefing for political editors, he stressed the need to deeply analyze the causes of the tragedy and do everything possible so that it does not happen again.

Answering a question about the number of missing people, he noted that according to the latest data, the number of people who got in touch and said they were looking for their relatives was 56 people, but he specified that this number also includes bodies, since the process their identification has not progressed. He also noted that 46 bodies have been recovered so far. “It’s not easy to say exactly for a number of reasons. Not all tickets are personalized, it always happens that people get on the train at the last moment, ”he said.

When asked if this would affect election planning, he replied that “we are in three days of mourning. I would not like to take a political stance on any other issue of broader interest, including election time.”

“I would also like to take this step to express our deepest sorrow over the tragedy in Tempi, which shocked us all,” the government spokesman said. “This is an unspeakable tragedy. Our thoughts and concerns are always with the relatives of the dead, missing and wounded. We are all devastated by the tragic event in Tempe. Dozens of human dramas, pain, unbearable pain, images that crush the heart and soul of each of us. There are no words enough, they are scarce, they are not enough to express what happened and especially what caused the tragic accident for those who were at the scene of the tragedy,” he said.

He stressed that the Prime Minister and the government express their condolences to the families and friends of the victims and at the same time want to pay tribute to the rescuers, to all the people who did everything in their power in such a difficult and morally painful mission. force . “Once again, they have fulfilled and are fulfilling their duty in full,” he stressed.

He referred to the declaration of three days of mourning and repeated that the funeral of the dead would be paid for by the state. He noted that from the first moment of the tragic event, the Prime Minister was constantly informed about the tragedy and yesterday he went to the place where he carefully observed the progress of investigative actions to search for the missing, and then visited the Larisa hospital. , where he talked with the relatives of the victims, with medical personnel and was informed about the process of identifying the victims and liquidating incidents.

He added that the mobilization of the state apparatus was immediate from the first moment, the relevant ministers were at the coordination center of the Ministry of Health since Tuesday evening, the Minister of Health and the Deputy Minister in Larisa, the Deputy Minister of Health in Thessaloniki and Katerini, and the Deputy Minister of Transport also went to Tempi. “The emphasis was placed from the first moment on the care of the victims, on the identification of the bodies of the victims and on the psychological support of relatives,” he said, referring to specific assistance measures.

He acknowledged that the losses and wounds they inflicted, the mental and physical trauma of those who survived, the heartache of all of us, the inhabitants of this country and beyond, are enormous and difficult to cope with, especially at this time. He stressed that the scale of the tragedy is such that our response is required at other levels as well. According to him, an investigation to establish the causes of the accident has already begun. He pointed out that in addition to finding out the reasons and assigning responsibility, it is necessary to deeply analyze this tragic experience so that we do our best to ensure that this never happens again.

He referred to the relevant commitment of the prime minister and the resignation of the responsible minister, Mr. Karamanlis, as well as the heads of OSE and ERGOSE, and also indicated that the transitional minister, Mr. Gerapetritis, will proceed immediately with the establishment of an independent supra-partisan commission of experts, which will fully study the causes of the accident. , as well as chronic delays in the implementation of railway projects. He emphasized that although many pathogens have been fought on a large scale in the railway sector, it is true that “we have not been able to eliminate them and therefore we take our share of the responsibility. No hypocrisy and no hiding.”

He spoke of a time of mourning and reflection in the face of the loss of dozens of people. “This is a time of empathy, respect, support and silence in the pain of loved ones who suddenly, from one moment to another, unexpectedly, lost almost everything,” he stressed. He spoke about the loss of a person as a serious wound that cannot be replaced by anything, and about the duty of the state to take care of the victims, of people who survived the tragic events, and to take the side of the relatives of the victims. as much as needed. “We have an obligation to take responsibility, but also to do everything, basically, so that there are no more moments like this,” he said, concluding his opening remarks.

Asked during today’s political editors’ briefing about how difficult it is to keep track of trains, he said that these questions are absolutely reasonable and justified, adding that the answers will be given clearly, because the chronic pathologies of public administration cannot be answered unilaterally. one word. He said that the problems in the security systems have been resolved by 70%, there are security systems that would not allow such a tragedy to develop, but they have not been finalized in the part where the accident occurred. He also said that efforts will be accelerated to do whatever is necessary to prevent something like this from happening again.

Mr. Economou assured that “all issues relating to this development will be brought to public discussion with sobriety”, adding: “Truth mostly saves hard times. The government has nothing to fear from the truth, and I hope no one else.” A government spokesman noted that “we have to honestly look at what we need to do to prevent this from happening again. The Prime Minister said that the next decade will be a decade of major railway projects. But today is not the time to discuss them.”

Speaking about political responsibility, he said that the assumption of political responsibility is self-evident and manifests itself in practice, and he spoke about the weaknesses and chronic responsibility of governments over the past 20 years. He added that “our government has taken steps, for example, from Tiforea to Domoko the system works, but not from Tempi to Thessaloniki.”

Referring to the transfer of our EU country. at the European Court of Justice, Mr. Economou said that there had been an appeal to include a part of the Community Directive, but which had no direct bearing on the issue of the Tempe tragedy. Asked what Mr. Mitsotakis would say yesterday from Thessaloniki, Mr. Oikonomou said that the prime minister would go to the control center for the electrification and line marking system that runs from Plata to Promakhon, as well as for the presentation of the suburban trains of Thessaloniki and its connection with the city’s metro.

Asked why the government was talking about human error when a commission of inquiry had not yet been set up, he said that the stationmaster himself had admitted to the error and added: “It is important to move on. Let’s see what else had to be provided to protect even from human error. It will hardly be disputed that the accident happened by mistake, but the question is what could have happened if we had not reached the tragedy.”

He noted that the new minister, Mr. Gerapetritis, will announce the timing of the investigation these days, while answering the question of whether there is intransigence towards Mr. Dogiakos, whose son is a former associate of Minister K. Karamanlis until yesterday, Mr. Economou said that the son of Mr. Dogiaku was elected from 2019 and resigning, the minister also resigns, adding that there should be a different approach to this issue. Finally, Mr. Economou said that during these 3.5 years the government has done a lot for the railways, but “unfortunately, not everything.”