Bomb explodes in British tourist hotspot outside HQ of train firm involved in Greece's deadliest rail disaster - with reports of anonymous call and device in backpack
Anonymous calls were made ahead of a bomb exploding in a British tourist hotspot in Greece on Friday night - and just yards away from the headquarters of a train company involved in the country's worst ever rail disaster.
Police revealed that anonymous calls to Greek media warned of the attack outside the Hellenic Train offices in Athens at 8.53pm local time.
The company was involved in a horrific rail crash between a freight train and a passenger train which claimed 57 lives in 2023.
An unknown man is said to have warned that the bomb, placed inside a backpack, would explode in '30 to 40 minutes' and said that 'it is not a prank', The Sun reported.
There were no immediate reports of injuries following the blast in an area brimming with hotels, restaurants and tourist rentals.
The Hellenic Train building also appeared undamaged.
Greek daily Efsyn and news website Zougla, both of which received a call, said the explosive device had apparently been hidden in a padlocked backpack, placed on a scooter without licence plates.
A police bomb disposal squad arrived too late to detonate the device, which had been placed near the Hellenic Train building on Syngrou Avenue before it exploded, they said.
Anonymous calls were made ahead of a bomb exploding in a British tourist hotspot in Greece on Friday night - and just yards away from the headquarters of a train company involved in the country's worst ever rail disaster
Greek Police experts search for evidences after a bomb explosion outside the Athens offices of Hellenic Train in Athens on Friday night
Police revealed that anonymous calls to Greek media warned of the attack outside the Hellenic Train offices in Athens at 8.53pm local time
However, a nearby hotel had earlier been evacuated, state TV ERT said.
The attack was similar to one targeting the Greek ministry of labour in February 2024.
Today's blast comes amid continuing anger over a major crash in February 2023, when 57 people, most of them young students, died after a passenger train and a freight train collided in Tempe, central Greece.
The crash occurred after both trains were allowed to run on the same track.
Thousands have turned out to strike and protest in Greece and abroad since the second anniversary of the collision.
It also brought about two votes of no confidence last year and again in March that the conservative government overcame.
The train's Italian-owned operator Hellenic Train has denied knowledge of any illegal cargo on the freight train.
More than 40 people have been prosecuted, including the local station master responsible for routing the trains.
There were no immediate reports of injuries following the blast in an area brimming with hotels, restaurants and tourist rentals
The Hellenic Train building also appeared undamaged following the blast on Friday night
A police bomb disposal squad arrived too late to detonate the device, which had been placed near the Hellenic Train building on Syngrou Avenue before it exploded
Police officers secure the area of the bomb blast outside the Hellenic Train offices in Athens
Greek Police experts search for evidence after a bomb explosion outside the Athens offices of Hellenic Train in Athens
The exterior of the building did not appear to have sustained too much damage from the blast
Tourists and residents gathered in nearby streets after being evacuated outside following the anonymous calls ahead of a bomb blast
A trial into the accident is not expected before the end of the year.
Earlier on Friday, the parliament voted to refer a former junior minister to justice on possible misdemeanour charges for breach of duty in connection to the aftermath of the accident.
Opposition parties say Christos Triantopoulos, who was dispatched by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the scene after the accident, authorised the bulldozing of the crash site which led to the loss of vital evidence.
Triantopoulos denies any wrongdoing and says he was overseeing relief efforts.
Greece's intercity trains went under private management in 2017, when state-owned Greek rail traffic services operator TrainOSE was privatised and sold to Italy's Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, becoming Hellenic Train.
Greek state company OSE still owns the tracks.
Hellenic Train's former CEO Maurizio Capotorto has reportedly been summoned to testify before a magistrate, on suspicion of giving false testimony to a parliamentary committee into the disaster in January 2024.
Greece has a long history of politically-motivated violence dating back to the 1970s, with domestic extremist groups carrying out small-scale bombings which usually cause damage but rarely lead to injuries.
Greek daily Efsyn and news website Zougla, both of which received a call, said the explosive device had been hidden in a padlocked backpack, placed on a scooter without licence plates
Today's blast comes amid continuing anger over a major crash in February 2023 , when 57 people, most of them young students, died after a passenger train and a freight train collided in Tempe, central Greece
While the groups most active in the 1980s and 1990s have been dismantled, new small groups have emerged.
Last year, a man believed to have been trying to assemble a bomb was killed when the explosive device he was making exploded in a central Athens apartment. A woman inside the apartment was severely injured.
The blast had prompted Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis to warn of an emerging new generation of domestic extremists.
