The only survivor of the first train car from the tragic Tempi train collision is set to leave the US after nearly a year in a specialized rehabilitation center in Boston. According to local newspaper TheNewspaper.gr, Gerasimos, the 22-year-old student, has been in a deep coma since the accident.
The site reported that despite extensive care and treatment in the U.S., doctors have been unable to wake the student from a coma. The site reported that his condition remains stable but unchanged.
Initial reports in TheNewspaper.gr which were republished in To Vima International Edition and elsewhere incorrectly reported that the young man was returning to Greece. The family’s lawyer corrected the misinformation saying: “As I was informed by Dionis Georgiades, his son Gerasimos is in the hospital in America. He is not coming to Greece. His trip will be to Milan. For months he has been in contact with the administration of a specialized hospital in Milan, to transfer Gerasimos there. It is perhaps one of the only hospitals in the world that can help restore Gerasimos’ health.”
The father released a statement saying: “My only concern and that of my family and children is the health of Gerasimos. I ask the media to respect Gerasimos’ fight for life. I want to thank all the Greeks and especially the doctors, who stand by us and pray for the health of our child.”
In a previous television interview on STAR, Gerasimos’s mother described the past year as a “titanic battle” for her son. She stated that despite multiple surgeries, his prognosis remains poor, and expressed anger over the crash. “The only punishment for those who are at fault is to put themselves in our place,” she said, “Not in the place of those who passed, in the place of those who remained. I still can’t face the picture of the two train cars at an upright angle.”
The Tempi train collision accident was caused by a head-on crash of two trains in the final hours of Feb. 23, 2023, at the south end of the Tempi gorge in north-central Greece. It remains the deadliest rail accident in the country. Large portions of the public accuse the Greek government of a cover-up and lack of accountability.
