A stationmaster accused of causing Greece's deadliest train disaster last week was charged with negligent homicide and jailed pending trial on Sunday, according to a report in The Associated Press.
An examining magistrate and a prosecutor agreed that multiple counts of homicide as well as charges of causing bodily harm and endangering transportation safety should be brought against the railway employee, the report said.
At least 57 people, many of them in their teens and 20s, were killed when a northbound passenger train and a southbound freight train collided late Tuesday north of the city of Larissa, in central Greece.
The 59-year-old stationmaster allegedly directed the two trains traveling in opposite directions onto the same track. He spent seven-and-a-half hours on Sunday testifying about the events leading up to the crash before he was charged and ordered held.
“My client testified truthfully, without fearing if doing so would incriminate him,” Stephanos Pantzartzidis, the stationmaster's lawyer, was quoted as having told reporters. “The decision (to jail him) was expected, given the importance of the case."
Pantzartzidis implied that others besides his client share blame, saying that judges should investigate whether more than one stationmaster should have been working in Larissa at the time of the collision.
"For 20 minutes, he was in charge of (train) safety in all central Greece,” the lawyer said of his client.
Greek media have reported that the automated signaling system in the area of the crash was not functioning, making the stationmaster’s mistake possible.
Greece's railways long suffered from chronic mismanagement, including lavish spending on projects that were eventually abandoned or significantly delayed, Greek media have reported in several exposes.
With state railway company Hellenic Railways billions of euros in debt, maintenance work was put off, according to news reports.