Deadly Greece Train Crash Prompts Thessaloniki Documentary Festival to Cancel Opening Night
variety.comChristopher Vourlias The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival has called off its opening ceremony on Thursday as the Greek government declared three days of national mourning following a train crash Tuesday night that claimed at least 36 lives.
In a statement posted on Facebook Wednesday evening, the festival said it had canceled its official curtain raiser, “as well as all festive events and concerts scheduled to be held within the framework of the 25th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, taking part in the three-day mourning declared following the unprecedented tragedy of the train collision in Tempi. “In these hours of grief and pain, our thoughts are with the families of the victims, to whom we express our most sincere condolences,” the statement read.
Tuesday’s fatal accident, in which a passenger train carrying 350 people collided with a freight train in northern Greece, has sparked mass outpourings of grief across the nation of 11 million.
It is believed to be the deadliest rail accident in the country’s history. Rescue workers spent the hours after the head-on collision picking through the wreckage for survivors.
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