The China Mail - Relatives of Greek train crash passenger in fury and despair

"No one can tell me anything -- if my child is injured or in intensive care or anything," the mother of a 23-year-old student told AFP.

She was desperately seeking news of her daughter Kalliopi.

The young woman was returning to Thessaloniki from Athens with her boyfriend on Tuesday night when their train crashed head on into a freight train just before midnight.

At least 57 people died in the crash, burned or crushed to death in the country's worst-ever rail disaster.

Since Tuesday, Kallopi's mother has been trying to find out where her daughter is, but neither the authorities in Thessaloniki nor the hospital in Larissa, near where the train derailed, have provided any news.

Staff at Larissa hospital are performing the delicate, heart-breaking task of identifying the corpses.

Kalliopi's mother and father have given DNA samples and are now waiting to find out if their daughter is alive.

Kalliopi's mother, who didn't wish to be named, admits she is boiling with anger.

- Crowded train -

"I chatted to my daughter at 9:30 pm (1930 GMT on Tuesday) and all she said was that the train was crowded," the mother said.

Her 49-year-old husband Lazaros said he'd only discovered there had been a crash by watching the late evening TV news.

"I woke my wife up and asked her if our daughter was on that train. That was when the nightmare began," he said.

Distraught with worry, they went straight to the station in Thessaloniki, where their daughter was due to arrive.

Kalliopi's mother said she hit a brick wall. The management of the train company provided no news.

"They never even picked up the phone. It was a security guard who came out to give us some information," she fumed.

There was no news from Larissa hospital either.

"They just told me 'This will be a difficult time for you'," she said.

"You can't treat parents like that!" she exploded.

"You can't tell someone who hasn't a clue what's going on that they're going to have a difficult time -- and that they have to be strong as well."

D.Wang--ThChM