Sixty-nine dead in Spain rail crash include 10 foreign citizens
Forensic teams have identified nearly all victims of last week's collision outside Urda, with three missing persons reports still active.
By Henry Wilson ·
Sixty-nine people died in a high-speed train collision in Spain last week, authorities confirmed on Sunday.
The death toll includes four US citizens, one each from Canada, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia, and the Czech Republic. These ten foreign nationals were identified in a late Sunday announcement by a legal body comprising police and forensics experts. Prior reports had confirmed the deaths of one French and one Portuguese citizen, along with 54 Spaniards.
Forensic teams have now identified all but three of the victims. Authorities said three active missing persons reports remain for two Australians and one Japanese citizen. Families of the missing have expressed a wish to travel to Spain for in-person identification, and officials are awaiting their arrival.
The accident occurred when a Renfe service struck the rear of a stationary Iryo train outside the central village of Urda. The crash took place approximately 130km south of Madrid. An automatic safety system failure had halted all trains on a 63km stretch of track. Despite this, a control centre authorized the Renfe service to resume its journey while the Iryo train remained stopped.
This incident is Spain's second high-speed train collision this year. A previous crash in Andalusia in January killed 46 people. The new disaster has intensified scrutiny of rail safety protocols in the country. The timing of the accident falls one month before a general election scheduled for November 29. Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, who has served as prime minister for eight years, faces a challenging political environment as he seeks to extend his tenure.
Source: The Guardian
