NICOSIA – It was a somber event on Cyprus as a big crowd came together at a church for the funeral of Kyprianos Papaioannou, 23, one of two students from the island killed in a head-on train collision in Greece that took at least 57 lives.

It was held at a church in Avgorou with so many people that some had to and outside during the ceremony and many wore white as requested by the family, and some wearing T-shirts bearing his photo, said The Cyprus Mail.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2023/03/06/funeral-of-greece-train-crash-victim-underway/

The second victim, Anastasia Adamidou, aged 24, was buried in Paphos as there was grieving in the country over the tragedy which took the lives of many students on the train headed from Athens to Thessaloniki where they studied at universities.

Both Papaioannou’s and Adamidou’s families requested no media presence at the service and burial so pictures were restricted to the outside of the church.

Papaioannou’s father, a priest there, held an overnight liturgy, the paper said.

Stelios Hadjioannou, founder of easyJet and easy branded companies and of the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation said he would donate 10,000 euros ($10,638) to the families of the victims, the paper said.

“I would like to give my condolences to the families of the deceased and a speedy recovery to the injured,” Hadjioannou said in a statement.

“I am well aware that there is no substitute for the loss of human life. However, I want to stand by the families of the deceased by offering a direct financial assistance to their relatives in order to support them at this difficult time,” he added.