The expert reported that “tragic mistakes were made by both the station master and the train driver”, stating that “Unfortunately, their conversation was of a coffee shop nature”.
By Yannis Anifantis
The stationmaster and the driver of the fatal train of the train accident in Tempi were blamed by the expert Yiannis Chalkias, testifying today to the Parliament’s investigative committee.
“The stationmaster had to push two buttons with his hands. If he did, nothing would have happened,” he said characteristically, adding that “the station master’s mistakes were fatal. I don’t know why he did it or if he knew.” Mr. Chalkias argued that he should not have been assigned to a central station such as the one in Larissa, stressing that “his training was incomplete”.
However, the expert said that “tragic mistakes were made by both the station master and the driver”, stating that when the driver realized that the train was going in the opposite direction, he had to stop it and he did not. “He should not have continued and the communication he had with the station master was not correct. Unfortunately, their conversation was of a coffee shop nature.”
Lasting intensity for witnesses
The electrified atmosphere of yesterday’s meeting was maintained today as well, with the atmosphere electrifying when the opposition MPs demanded that the former president of the workers and current executive of Hellenic Train, Kostas Genidounias, be called to testify before the committee.
The president of the investigation Dimitris Markopoulos argued that “Mr. Genidounias is already accountable to Mr. Caportos, he takes money from Mr. Caportos”, with him stressing that “He is on Mr. Caportos’ payroll”. This report of the blue MP was the spark that lit the fire in the committee, with the SYRIZA rapporteur, V. Kokkalis answering him that “before the witness comes you beat him…” and Dimitris Markopoulos questioning “Are you defending the right Mr. Capotorto’s hand? How are you;”.
A few minutes later, the floor was taken by the PASOK’s Milena Mission, where in response to the report of the chairman of the committee on “payroll” she underlined that “when we say payroll we mean underground routes, we live in Greece”. The direct confrontation with Makarios Lazaridis from the majority did not take long, when he commented “he knows PASOK from underground routes very well”. “You too. And ND knows very well about these and from thuggery. This hand to your wife and your daughter, not to me,” said Mrs. Apostolaki in exasperation, with Mr. Lazaridis replying that “we are tired of opposition MPs putting on a show.”
Request by relatives of the victims to stop the Inquest
During today’s meeting, 29 relatives of the victims of the railway accident requested in a written statement to the investigating committee the interruption of the meetings of the Parliament’s committee, until the investigation procedure before Mr. Appellant Investigator Larisa is completed. In fact, in their statement, the relatives point out that the members of the investigation must request and receive a copy of the resulting criminal case file, in order to examine other witnesses “with a substantial contribution to the investigation of the criminal responsibilities of political figures”. Their request was not discussed, which is expected to be done in the next meetings.
The work of the examination will continue tomorrow in the morning with Panagiotis Terezakis (CEO of OSE) and Athanasios Kottaras (deputy CEO of OSE 2020-2022) testifying at the committee.
Source: Skai
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