Saturday, March 1

Businesses and roads across Greece were shut down yesterday after hundreds of thousands of people protested across the country against the government's lack of action regarding a train crash from two years ago.

On February 28, 2023, a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train in eastern Greece, just south of Mount Olympus between Athens and Thessaloniki. The two trains had been traveling on the same railway track due to errors made by train station masters and electrical issues, and they crashed into each other near the town of Tempi.

The first four cars of the passenger train were derailed and the two cars at the front were destroyed completely. There were 342 passengers onboard the passenger train along with 10 crewmembers, and two additional staff members were aboard the freight train. 57 people were killed in the crash, making it Greece's deadliest-ever train crash, and over 85 others were injured.

Investigations following the crash yielded several conclusions, with the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) confirming that the ensuing explosion was due to large amounts of silicone oils aboard the freight train. However, expert reviews stated that it was most likely due to the presence of certain chemical solvents on the train, which would have been placed there illegally.

In addition, audio recordings of passengers onboard the train during their emergency calls show them declaring that they had a lack of oxygen. Chemical solvents would have been the likely cause of this issue, specifically aromatic hydrocarbons like xylene and toluene, further backing up the people's case.

Other reports confirmed that many of the electronics across the Athens-Thessaloniki line are dysfunctional, and the required funds to fix and update the equipment have not been supplied.

These conclusions led to massive protests across Greece in the following weeks, accusing the government of avoiding the assumption of responsibility of the crash and trying to cover up the true cause, with the combined turnout of the protests arriving at a staggering 2.5 million people.

Now, this year, on the second anniversary of the crash, protests broke out once again. This year's protests stretched far and wide, with every sector experiencing major problems. Everyone from pilots to doctors to lawyers went on strike for a 24-hour period, bringing all business to a halt. Transportation was also stopped, with all flights, trains, and ferries canceled for the day.

Estimates place the total turnout at around 180,000 people in Athens alone, with numerous prominent slogans on banners such as "I have no oxygen," the passengers' words during their call to emergency services, and "Text me when you get there," the last message that many parents sent to their children before the crash. While the protests began as nonviolent, multiple violent riots occurred later in the afternoon, leading to the arrests of 41 people.

The protests continue to accuse the government of trying to cover up the incident and refusing to upgrade safety standards when it comes to the country's railway system. Over the past several years, minimal action has been taken, with few upgrades to safety or management of the Athens-Thessaloniki line, and a court case has remained stagnant for some time. Additionally, nobody has been detained, despite calls from thousands of people to arrest the allegedly corrupt government officials who they claim are behind the entire crash.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): C is the most common key used in pop songs. A man analyzed 1,300 songs from the Top 100 charts in pursuit of patterns and discovered that the most common key in music is C, with 26% of the 1,300 songs.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Success is the good fortune that comes from aspiration, desperation, perspiration, and inspiration. (Evan Esar)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Cryptic (adj, KRIP-tik) - Something described as cryptic has or seems to have a hidden meaning, or is difficult to understand.

In a Sentence: The singer posted a cryptic message on her social media accounts, and fans raced to decipher it.