A woman holds a portrait of her cousin, a victim of the Tempi train crash, at court in Larissa, Greece, on Monday, March 23, 2026. THANASSIS STAVRAKIS / AP
A long-awaited trial into Greece's worst train tragedy was adjourned to April 1, amid chaotic scenes in a courtroom too small to handle the huge interest in the case, officials said on Monday, March 23.
Hundreds of people turned up for the trial, leading to angry complaints from lawyers that the venue was "insultingly" unsuitable, and booing from family relatives.
Thirty-six people face charges and over 350 witnesses were due to be heard at the trial that opened in the central city of Larissa, near where a freight train and a passenger train collided, leaving 57 dead, on February 28, 2023. Most of the dead were students returning from a carnival weekend.
The two trains had run on the same track for more than 10 minutes without triggering an alarm. The disaster exposed the parlous state of the Greek railway network's safety precautions – despite European Union grants for their modernisation, and repeated warnings from unions.
