Dozens of passengers were trapped inside a stalled train of Metro Line 3 in complete darkness for over an hour following a suicide attempt at Evangelismos station earlier on Sunday.
They were eventually instructed to evacuate by walking through the tunnel alongside the tracks.
The injured man was later rescued by firefighters, and he was taken by an ambulance to a hospital.
The Metro train had arrived from the Athens International Airport carrying many tourists with their luggage and especially unfamiliar with the Greek language.
One passenger told Mega TV that the tourists were asking what was happening.
The passenger complained that there was no clear communication with the train authorities and he confirmed that they were trapped inside for about an hour.
“Eventually, we saw people starting to move, so we followed them. We had to walk through the train and then along the tracks to reach the next station, carrying our luggage, and there were also families with strollers and small children,” the passenger said.
According to tovima.gr, the man added that “many of the slabs along the path were broken or unstable, making it difficult and dangerous to walk. There were gaps between them, and in some places, there was no lighting at all — I had to use my phone’s flashlight just to see where I was going. The situation was truly appalling.”
On its part, the managing company Athens Urban Rail Station (STASY) issued a statement saying that following the suicide attempt “a reversal of trains between the Katechaki and Panormou section was carried out in accordance with the prescribed operational procedures.”
“During the reversal procedure, one of the trains experienced a power outage, and some passengers activated the emergency door release levers.
Following STASY’s safety banksnewscols, operating personnel immediately cut off power supply to that section of the line and proceeded to evacuate the train towards Panormou station.
The evacuation was completed under the supervision of the driver and the stationmaster, in strict adherence to the safety banksnewscol,” the STASY statement underlined.
This is one more incident in the public transport system of the Greek capital Athens. No the first and not the last one.
Public buses catch fire, passengers of metro trains get often in trouble, workers at Urban Train ISAP (Metro Line 1) have recently warned about safety issues.
PS “Maintenance is the key word” we used to say in my village. And respect to the passengers.