Rescuers picked through mangled carriages on Thursday near the town of Urda in the central Spanish province of Toledo as the death toll from Wednesday’s high-speed train crash rose to 69, with hopes of finding further survivors fading.
One high-speed train hit another stationary train on the Madrid-Seville line. It is Spain’s second fatal high-speed train crash this year and Europe’s deadliest train accident since the 2013 derailment at Santiago de Compostela.
Authorities said 57 injured people remain in hospital. Spain’s foreign ministry said 42 foreign citizens from seven countries were involved in the crash, of whom one was killed and at least seven injured.
Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente said on Wednesday the crash happened after several trains stopped automatically due to a signal failure, and a state-run Renfe train was then authorised to proceed at normal speed even though a stationary Iryo-operated train was ahead.
Spain’s government has declared three days of national mourning. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez travelled to Toledo to monitor the emergency response.
Train drivers went ahead with a previously planned strike to press for more investment in railway safety, and the leaders of Spain’s two main parties suspended campaign events ahead of a November 29 snap election.
A judge in Toledo has barred anyone not involved in emergency, security, healthcare or judicial work from a 2-kilometre exclusion zone around the crash site. The Spanish train drivers’ union SEMAF said it did not want to speculate on the cause of the crash.
Source: Reuters
