Greek train crash: Funerals begin after harrowing ID process

By VASSILIS KOMMATAS, GIANNIS PAPANIKOS and DEREK GATOPOULOS
Associated Press

KATERINI, Greece (AP) — The first funeral for victims of a deadly Greek rail disaster has been held as families began receiving the remains of their loved ones following a harrowing identification process. 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 confirmed the death toll 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 government has blamed human error and a railway official was charged Thursday with manslaughter, in an accident that shocked the nation.