A 20-year-old student from Chania (he studies at the School of Environmental Engineering in Thessaloniki) experienced in the most “live” and chilling way the absolute nightmare of the collision of the two trains in Tempi. He, Pantelis N., was not only traveling on the fatal train to Thessaloniki but he was a passenger in the third carriage, which as can be seen from the photos, is the one that is outside the tracks at “right angles” to the rest of the wagons. The first two carriages suffered to a much greater extent the consequences of the collision.

The 20-year-old student from Chania spoke to Flashnews.gr and reported that 5 minutes before the fatal collision, it was in the first carriage where the canteen is as he went there to buy a chocolate. “I even talked for a while with the cashier, we said hello and I left”emphasizes the student.

The 20-year-old returned to the third carriage and went to the seat where luckily, no other passenger was sitting next to him. This essentially saved his life or at least ensured that he did not suffer serious injuries, since when the collision occurred he was lying down, wearing a jacket, hood and headphones and since he was in such a position he was not ejected at the time of the collision

“Where I was lying on the seat, suddenly the commotion started. The driver hit the brakes and sparks were coming out. After a few seconds we felt the train leave the tracks! I fall into the seats. These fortunately absorbed me as there were no individuals. The train pulled out and suddenly there was a bang. There the train stopped” Pantelis describes the shocking moment and continues:

“Smoke was coming in! I could only see gray. I saw injured people crying. I was lucky because I was sitting on the left side and no things fell on me, since they, unfortunately, fell on passengers sitting on the right and injured them.”

“Looking for a way out”

The 20-year-old student describes the moment he and other passengers were looking for an exit to get out of the carriage.

“The doors wouldn’t open! I found a window with broken glass. It was completely broken. I called others to get out of here. But the height was great. We had no other choice. We jumped out to save ourselves. On my way out I saw a woman mutilated. Shock!”.

The 20-year-old from Chaniotis describes the moments of anxiety of the passengers to communicate with their own people. They even exchanged mobile phones after some had lost their phones or had no battery. The moments were shocking. It should also be noted that the incident happened at midnight. The cold was more than bitter and some did not even have clothes.

After a while, the rescue crews came. The same he feels lucky to have made it out alive only with bumps on the legs and scratches on the face. However, this event will remain etched in his memory forever, like a science fiction scenario, which unfortunately is a reality.