Two people were killed and 30 injured on Thursday after an intercity train collided with a truck at a rail crossing near the northern Greek town of Serres, a fire brigade official told Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa). The train, which was travelling from Athens via the northern port city of Thessaloniki to Alexandroupolis and had 101 passengers on board, derailed after crashing into a truck near the village of Chrysso, according to a statement by Hellenic Railways (OSE). The truck, which was illegally trying to cross the track, was struck by the train approximately 90 kilometres north-east of Thessaloniki. "A truck suddenly appeared on the track and the driver of the train could not stop in time," a fire brigade official said. "We have two dead people, one man who is thought to have been driving the truck and a woman passenger on the train," the official said. Officials said up to 30 people were injured, two of them seriously. All the injured have been taken to hospital. Greece's rail network has been improved in recent years, cutting journey times between the Greek capital and Thessaloniki from more than six to about four hours. --SP 20 10 Local Time 17 10 GMT
