Greece: Crash victims returned to families in closed caskets

By VASSILIS KOMMATAS, GIANNIS PAPANIKOS and DEREK GATOPOULOS
Associated Press

LARISSA, Greece (AP) — Authorities in Greece say checks of all the human remains recovered so far from the scene of the deadliest train crash in the country’s history indicate the number of people killed in the rail disaster still stands at 57. Recovery teams spent a third day scouring the wreckage in Tempe, 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens, where a passenger train slammed into a freight carrier just before midnight Tuesday. The force of the head-on collision and a resulting fire has complicated the task of determining the death toll. Officials are matching parts of dismembered and burned bodies with tissue samples to establish the number. Identification is being done through next-of-kin DNA samples.