<p> It took a bang, and just seconds to turn a long holiday weekend into a nightmare for hundreds of Greeks caught up in a deadly train wreck on Tuesday night.</p>.<p>Tuesday's train crash 220 miles north of Athens killed at least 36 people when a high-speed passenger train heading to the northern city of Thessaloniki careered into a freight train from the opposite direction, flying off the track and bursting into flames. Witnesses said they felt a strong shudder, then a bang, then chaos.</p>.<p>"Windows were being smashed and people were screaming," said a passenger on the fifth carriage. "One of the windows caved in from the impact of iron from the other train," the passenger told Skai TV as he took shelter under a nearby bridge, his face illuminated from the fire raging in the background.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/at-least-32-dead-85-injured-in-greece-train-crash-1196084.html" target="_blank">At least 32 dead, 85 injured in Greece train crash</a></strong></p>.<p>There were about 346 people on the train, which passengers described as being two-thirds full with many young people.</p>.<p>"My child is not picking up the phone," one woman said as she waited at a train station in Thessaloniki. Another woman ran to embrace her daughter as she disembarked from a bus with survivors. "Mum don't, I'm hurt," she said.</p>.<p>Many would have been returning home after a long holiday weekend marking the beginning of Greek Orthodox lent. Thessaloniki has a large student population.</p>.<p>"There was panic, cables (everywhere) fire, the fire was immediate, as we were turning over we were being burned, fire was right and left,” said 28-year old passenger Stergios Minenis.</p>.<p>Another passenger in one of the last carriages said he felt the train shake, then flip over.</p>.<p>"I managed to get out and went to the front, the train was bent at a 90 degree angle, half of it was hanging over the cliff burning. There were five people injured just where I stood," he said.</p>.<p>As morning broke, rescue crews trawled through a smouldering mangled mass of steel while cranes slowly removed pieces of the train.</p>.<p>They were still discovering victims hours later. ERT state TV showed one crew carrying what was thought to be a victim, covered in a white sheet and gently placed in an ambulance. (Reporting By Alexandros Avraamides, Renee Maltezou, Deborah Kyvrikosaios, Angeliki Koutantou; writing by Michele Kambas; editing by Christina Fincher)</p>
<p> It took a bang, and just seconds to turn a long holiday weekend into a nightmare for hundreds of Greeks caught up in a deadly train wreck on Tuesday night.</p>.<p>Tuesday's train crash 220 miles north of Athens killed at least 36 people when a high-speed passenger train heading to the northern city of Thessaloniki careered into a freight train from the opposite direction, flying off the track and bursting into flames. Witnesses said they felt a strong shudder, then a bang, then chaos.</p>.<p>"Windows were being smashed and people were screaming," said a passenger on the fifth carriage. "One of the windows caved in from the impact of iron from the other train," the passenger told Skai TV as he took shelter under a nearby bridge, his face illuminated from the fire raging in the background.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/at-least-32-dead-85-injured-in-greece-train-crash-1196084.html" target="_blank">At least 32 dead, 85 injured in Greece train crash</a></strong></p>.<p>There were about 346 people on the train, which passengers described as being two-thirds full with many young people.</p>.<p>"My child is not picking up the phone," one woman said as she waited at a train station in Thessaloniki. Another woman ran to embrace her daughter as she disembarked from a bus with survivors. "Mum don't, I'm hurt," she said.</p>.<p>Many would have been returning home after a long holiday weekend marking the beginning of Greek Orthodox lent. Thessaloniki has a large student population.</p>.<p>"There was panic, cables (everywhere) fire, the fire was immediate, as we were turning over we were being burned, fire was right and left,” said 28-year old passenger Stergios Minenis.</p>.<p>Another passenger in one of the last carriages said he felt the train shake, then flip over.</p>.<p>"I managed to get out and went to the front, the train was bent at a 90 degree angle, half of it was hanging over the cliff burning. There were five people injured just where I stood," he said.</p>.<p>As morning broke, rescue crews trawled through a smouldering mangled mass of steel while cranes slowly removed pieces of the train.</p>.<p>They were still discovering victims hours later. ERT state TV showed one crew carrying what was thought to be a victim, covered in a white sheet and gently placed in an ambulance. (Reporting By Alexandros Avraamides, Renee Maltezou, Deborah Kyvrikosaios, Angeliki Koutantou; writing by Michele Kambas; editing by Christina Fincher)</p>