Admiration for the heroic passengers who saved those they might
At the time when the rescue crews are still giving a titanic struggle, thoroughly searching the amorphous masses of ironwork to locate bodies or human parts, an example of the greatness of their souls are also the students who, in the critical moments following the collision, rushed, without a second thought, to help their fellow passengers out of the carriages.
Andreas Alikaniotis is a real hero! He survived the tragedy, managed to get out of the carriage of the death train and immediately ran to help as many people as he might before they were injured or burned alive. This is the 20-year-old student from Larissa who, despite the panic prevailing in his wagon, managed to keep his composure and save the injured from the wreckage. “I felt a strong jolt. And, following the jolt and the “bang”, the wagon practically dragged and the fire started. And together with the sparks that followed from the engines” described the 20-year-old Andreas, noting that people started to panic and shout.
“There were some people like me who kept the cool and calmed people down so we might help each other. At that time, what we did was to break the glass, which was already cracked, to throw the suitcases down so that we might all land on the soft ground one by one, first the girls and the seriously injured, and last we, who were injured lighter, we jumped from a height of three or four meters, into a ditch, and landed on the suitcases. There were some irons and there were a lot of injuries, like my own knee,” he explained.
Another hero is the 18-year-old student Angelos Tsiamouras, who helped his fellow passengers not only in his own carriage, but also in the others, as much as he might. The young man was in Patras for the Carnival and was returning to Thessaloniki, where he is studying at the Department of Economics and Business Administration.
“I did my duty”
“I’m not a hero, don’t call me that. I simply did my duty towards my fellow human beings” said Angelos, shocking with his soul and selflessness. “We felt three tremors, one weaker than the other, and we immediately understood the danger we were in,” he said and continued: “I thought of nothing else, except that I had to help my fellow men. Together with my friend Giorgos we ran to carriages 3 and 4 to save as many people as possible and together with the rescuers we managed to get 16 people out. All I might think regarding was that I had to save one more person. Nothing else! Adrenaline had hit red. In wagon No. 3 we saw many dead. You mightn’t do much, unfortunately… The fire had spread. Wagon No. 1 broke up immediately, Wagon No. 2 was destroyed by fire. I’m not a hero, don’t call me that. I was simply doing my duty to my fellow men. I express my deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. I hope that the State will now assume its responsibilities so that similar tragedies are not repeated in the future.”
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