The two trains – a passenger train travelling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki, and a cargo train from Thessaloniki to Larissa, collided head on outside the city of Larissa in central Greece, Konstantinos Agorastos, governor of the broader Thessaly region, told SKAI TV.

“The collision was very strong,” he said, adding that the first four carriages had derailed, while the first two were “almost completely destroyed.”

Agorastos said about 250 passengers were evacuated safely to Thessaloniki on buses.

Broadcaster SKAI showed footage of derailed carriages, badly damaged with broken windows and thick plumes of smoke, as well as debris strewn across the road. Rescue workers were seen carrying torches in carriages looking for trapped passengers.

“There was panic in the carriage, people were screaming,” a young man who was evacuated to a nearby bridge told SKAI TV.

“It was like an earthquake,” Angelos Tsiamouras, another passenger, told ERT.