Home of former Greek rail disaster probe chief attacked
Athens News Agency reported that unidentified individuals had placed it at the entrance of the and that it had exploded shortly before 03:00 am on Sunday.
The explosion caused minor material damage to the entrance and police found the remains of gas cannisters, firecrackers and duct tape.
State security is investigating the incident at the building, which according to police sources is where Christos Papadimitriou, until recently head of the state accident investigation agency's railway sector, lives.
Papadimitriou resigned early in April, citing "personal and family reasons", having said he had received threats over his work.
That followed a row over statements he made about the fireball explosion that followed the devastating train collision of Tempe in 2023.
Fifty-seven people, most of them young students, were killed in February 2023 when a passenger train and a freight train collided in Tempe, central Greece, having been allowed to run on the same track.
But investigators say some those who died were killed not in the crash but by an 80-metre (260-feet) fireball that came after the collision.
- 'Questionable' methodology -
On February 27, Papadimitriou presented a report that indicated the "possible presence" of an "unknown fuel" that could have caused the fireball, a conclusion that has divided experts.
In subsequent television interviews he said that European train safety officials had pressed for this conclusion to be included in the report, but that it required further investigation.
"I received threats because I continued to look into it," he told Skai TV. The fireball theory was based on "questionable" methodology that was "not universally accepted" by experts, he added.
Papadimitriou mentioned that there was an alternative theory that involved train engine silicone oils. If that theory turned out to be correct, then "all trains" running in Europe" could be "dangerous", he had warned.
The disaster and its aftermath have sparked strikes and hundreds of protests in Greece and abroad this year.
It has also led to two votes of no confidence in the conservative government, which the administration overcame.
The train's Italian-owned operator Hellenic Train has denied knowledge of any illegal cargo on the freight train.
Prosecutors have so taken action against more than 40 people over the accident, including the local station master responsible for routing the trains.
A trial into the accident is not expected before the end of the year.
Early in April, a bomb exploded outside the Athens offices of Hellenic Train, after anonymous calls to Greek media warned of the attack near one of the capital's busiest highways. No one was injured.
kan/jj
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Nationals vs. Royals odds, predictions: MLB picks, best bets Wednesday
President Trump is federalizing the D.C. Police Dept. to clean up crime in the Nation's Capital and it is not sitting well with Democrats. Jimmy Kimmel has gone so far as to apply for dual citizenship in Italy so he can escape Trump's policies. A guitar Eddie Van Halen played back in 1982 may fetch $2 million to $3 million at auction. The way our season has developed, we will settle for the $25 suntan lotion which may or may not have been used by Beach Boy Brian Wilson. This just in…With crime on the rise in Rome, Italian officials have asked Trump to help clean up the mess. No play on Tuesday (read below), so we will double down. Merrill Kelly Getty Images K.C.'s Seth Lugo throws at home against the Nats. $100 on the Royals. And Merrill Kelly will face the D'backs, his former team, for the first time. Play $50 on the Rangers. Learn all you need to know about MLB Betting The Cubs' Ben Brown didn't start. Our bet, canceled. Still down -724 durochers. Why Trust New York Post Betting The one and only Stitches has been handicapping baseball, daily, for the Post since 2019. Miraculously, he has finished in the black twice. But wait there's more. He showed his versatility by winning the Post's NFL Best Bet crown last year.
CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
CNN contributor sounds off on the big issue of sex toys thrown at WNBA games
CNN contributor sounds off on the big issue of sex toys thrown at WNBA games CNN Contributor Cari Champion says that WNBA players deserve respect in the wake of sex toys being thrown on the court during games. 01:21 - Source: CNN Automated CNN Shorts 11 videos CNN contributor sounds off on the big issue of sex toys thrown at WNBA games CNN Contributor Cari Champion says that WNBA players deserve respect in the wake of sex toys being thrown on the court during games. 01:21 - Source: CNN Zelensky arrives in Berlin ahead of Trump-Putin summit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Berlin for high-level talks with European leaders and President Trump, just days before Trump's face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The virtual meeting is seen as a strategic move to shape Trump's stance ahead of the historic sit-down. 00:36 - Source: CNN Israeli Reservists Speak Out: Stop the War Protesters, including Israeli Air Force reservists and retired pilots, rallied outside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to call for an end to the war in Gaza, and the release of the hostages. 00:51 - Source: CNN 5 stories to start your day WH to review all exhibits at 8 Smithsonian museums, Police near Philly looking for suspects in Brinks robbery, Robot dogs check human's work at plant. 05:24 - Source: CNN Train Carrying Hazardous Material Derails A Union Pacific freight train derailed Tuesday afternoon just outside Gordon, Texas, sparking small grass fires and prompting a hazmat response. Emergency crews in Palo Pinto County treated the scene with caution, but officials say no one was hurt and there's no sign that any of the train cars are leaking. The derailment happened about two miles east of town and involved dozens of cars. Firefighters got the flames under control, and Union Pacific teams are now working to clear the site and investigate what went wrong. 00:41 - Source: CNN Epstein survivor doubts he died by suicide CNN's Randi Kaye speaks with one woman about her experiences with Jeffrey Epstein when she was just 16, and why she thinks he didn't die by suicide. 01:32 - Source: CNN Epstein survivor speaks out on Maxwell CNN's Randi Kaye speaks with one woman about her experiences with Jeffrey Epstein when she was just 16. 01:13 - Source: CNN Cristiano Ronaldo and his partner Georgina Rodríguez are engaged 00:35 - Source: CNN Armored personnel carriers line up near Washington Monument Five armored personnel carriers parked overnight near the Washington Monument after President Donald Trump's decision yesterday to deploy the National Guard in the US capital. 00:51 - Source: CNN Torrential rains trigger flooding in Chattanooga Chattanooga, Tennessee recorded its second-wettest day on record, receiving more than 6 inches of rain and nearly twice the city's typical August rainfall in a single day. The deluge has triggered significant flooding and numerous water rescues. 01:09 - Source: CNN
Boston Globe
11 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Sometimes you just have to throw your sandwich
Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up Perhaps things would have ended there if he hadn't been armed. With a sandwich. A footlong sandwich from Subway. Not all heroes wear capes. Some come on freshly baked Italian bread. Maybe toasted? We'll never know. Advertisement The entire time the man in the pink shirt was yelling, he held in his left hand a floppy parcel wrapped in paper. Call it Chekhov's bun. Suddenly, with the control and speed of a Pedro Martinez in the rough, he pivoted, transferred that sandwich to his right hand, and pitched it directly into the well-padded chest of the agent before him. Then he ran, officers in hot pursuit. They eventually caught up to him: 'FBI and Border Patrol officers arrest a man along the U Street corridor during a federal law enforcement deployment to the nation's capital,' reads the caption on a Getty Images photo that shows the baguette bandit surrounded by eight armed individuals and one threatening blue recycling bin. Federal dollars well spent. D.C. was safe again. Safe from sandwiches. Advertisement But not from the spirit that throws them. Because here was a man hungry enough to eat a Subway footlong, yet so moved by moral indignation he would throw it away. 'This machine kills fascists,' as the memers memed when footage hit the Internet Monday, referencing Woody Guthrie's guitar. Was it a steak bomb? A meatball sub? For sure not an Elite Chicken & Bacon Ranch. A revolutionary would never order something so upper-crust. Whatever it was, it was just dinner, until it became something more. FBI and Border Patrol arrest a man on U Street corridor last night. Federal police are patrolling this area after — Andrew Leyden (@PenguinSix) As a symbol of protest, food is potent. From tomatoes to rotten eggs to pies, it has been hurled at politicians and public figures as an expression of anger and discontent. Climate activists throw soup on Van Goghs and mashed potatoes on Monets. In 2019, there was an outbreak of 'milkshaking' in the UK, with frosty frappes tossed at far-right leaders and Brexiteers. Beverages count, too. Just ask Boston, where we invented spilling the tea. (Taxes! Trade! China! Glad to see so much has changed.) It can also be withheld, whether by a bakery refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple or a restaurant owner asking a member of a political administration to leave. Last week, a Advertisement As symbols go, a sandwich is solid. If the deli dissenter's actions were as spontaneous as they appeared, he could hardly have chosen better. It is the ultimate everyperson's meal, accessible, ubiquitous, quickly consumed so that workers might get back to working. And this was no bougie sandwich on artisanal sourdough with heirloom tomatoes. It was from Subway, where a value meal gets you a sandwich, drink, and chips for under $10. When the man in the pink shirt went ham on those agents, he did so relatably. Social media, where no one can agree on anything, united on this: Protect sandwich bro at all costs. Fleet of foot, perhaps slightly inebriated, prepared to bend the arc of the moral universe by hurling hoagies: This week, he was the hero the Internet needed. Devra First can be reached at
