Shortly before midnight, a passenger train carrying some 350 people, mostly students, travelling to Thessaloniki crashed head-on with a freight train on its route to Larissa, after the two trains ended up on the same tracks.
The first four carriages of the passenger train were derailed and fire erupted almost immediately after the crash. 57 people were killed, many students, and dozens others were seriously injured, making the Tempi disaster the deadliest train crash in Greek history.
Other notable events on February 28th:
In 2013, Benedict XVI steps down as pope, the first to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.
In 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated
In 1935, Nylon is invented by Wallace Carothers in Delaware, United States.
In 1922, Egypt became an independent country.
