Station master in Greece train crash delays court appearance
CTV
The station master involved in Greece's deadliest train crash is set to appear before a prosecutor and an examining magistrate Sunday after his deposition was postponed Saturday.
The station master involved in Greece's deadliest train crash is set to appear before a prosecutor and an examining magistrate Sunday after his deposition was postponed Saturday.
The 59-year-old is accused of placing two trains running in opposite directions on the same track. At least 57 people died when a passenger train slammed into a freight carrier late Tuesday at Tempe, 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens.
The government has blamed human error, and the station master faces multiple charges of negligent homicide and bodily harm, as well as disrupting transportation. Days of protests against the perceived lack of safety measures in Greece's rail network have taken place in the wake of the disaster.
Stephanos Pantzartzidis, the station master's lawyer, told reporters waiting outside the courthouse Saturday in the central Greek city of Larissa that "very important new evidence emerged that force us to request a postponement" in his client's deposition.
The lawyer didn't elaborate. Per Greek law, authorities have not released the accused station master's name.
Also Saturday, one of the three members of an expert panel named by the government to investigate and issue a report on the collision resigned after opposition parties and some media outlets panned his appointment.
Thanasis Ziuliaskopoulos served as chairman and CEO of the country's train operator, since privatized, from 2010 to 2015 and is currently the chairman of the agency in charge of privatizing state-owned assets.
