The number of dead from train crash in Greece rises to 57

A passenger train has crashed into a freight train north of Greece, leaving more than 100 injured.

Greek Transport Minister Costas Karamanlis has resigned “in respect to people who died unjustly”. He said he had made “every attempt to” to improve Greece's railway system, which according to him, “does not fit the 21st century”.

Rescue teams demanded until late hours Wednesday to survive amid train ruins, in what is now considered the country's deadliest railway crash.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the collision of the passenger train and a “cargo train a terrible unprecedented railway accident at our country” and pledged a thorough and independent investigation.

He said it seemed that the crash was “due to a tragic human error”, but did not elaborate.

Greek authorities arrested the director of the train station in the town of Larissa. They did not publish the name of this person or the reason for the arrest, but the station director is responsible for the railway traffic on that part of the tracks.

The train of about 350 passengers has been traveling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki. Many of the travelers took students back from carnival celebrations.