Nearly 50 injured in Athens train crash-police

ATHENS, July 12 (Reuters) Forty-nine people were injured in a head-on collision between a passenger train packed with commuters and a goods train in Athens today morning, police said.

''There are 49 people who were injured, including 25 more seriously who will stay in hospital. Most of them have head injuries,'' a police officer said.

Fire department officials said almost all the passengers had been evacuated from the site of the crash in the working-class district of Sepolia.

The crowded passenger train was heading towards central Athens from the northern suburbs when the driver saw a goods train from the city of Corinth, south of Athens, approaching on the same track.

The driver rushed down the train, shouting to passengers to hold on for the imminent crash, the police officer said.

Greek television showed that both trains had suffered extensive damage, with the drivers' cabins completely wrecked.

Police said an investigation had been launched into the cause of the crash.

Reuters AE DB1245