Carnage after trains collide near the Greek city of Larissa

At least 32 people have been killed and dozens injured after two trains collided in northern Greece, emergency services say.

Rescue crews have been working through the night to rescue the passengers on board the train when it crashed near the city of Larissa.

A train carrying about 350 passengers reportedly collided with a freight train.

Footage published on local news sites showed thick smoke billowing from the derailed carriages.

The fire service said around 150 firefighters and 40 ambulances were at the scene.

The cause of the collision between the passenger train traveling between Thessaloniki and Larissa is not yet known.

“We heard a big explosion,” passenger Stergios Menenis said, according to Reuters news agency.

“It was a nightmare for ten seconds, until we fell on our sides and the commotion stopped, and we were turning in the carriage. Then panic set in. Cables, fire, fire was immediate.

“When we came back we were burned. The fire was right and left … Ten, fifteen seconds it was chaos. Falling down, fire, cables hanging, broken windows, people screaming, people trapped. It was two meters high. Down from where we jumped to get out. There were scraps of broken iron, but what could we do?”

Angelos Chiamouras, another passenger, told local media that the crash felt like an earthquake.

Another passenger, Lazos, told Protothema newspaper that the experience was “very shocking”.

Fire service spokesman Vassilis Tradoyannis told reporters that conditions for rescue workers were “extremely difficult” due to the “intensity of the conflict”.

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