Spain’s worst train crash in decades leaves 80 dead

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The Age

World

Date

July 26, 2013 – 5:22AM

The Alvia model train derailing four kilometres from Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.

The Alvia model train derailing four kilometres from Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. Photo: AFP

Spain’s worst rail crash in decades left 80 people dead and scores more injured, officials said on Thursday, as investigators tried to establish how a passenger train that many reports said was travelling at excessive speed derailed outside Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.

Emergency workers were still picking their way through mangled debris more than 12 hours after the train crashed in one of Europe’s deadliest rail accidents in recent years. No official cause has been determined, although Spanish media outlets reported that the train, with 218 passengers and nearly 30 crew members on board, was taking a curve at about twice the maximum permitted speed. Some also reported that one of the drivers had been placed under investigation.

“I hope no one died because it will weigh on my conscience,” he was quoted as saying.

The city of Santiago de Compostela cancelled its extensive annual July 25 celebration of St. James the Apostle, the patron saint of Spain and historic Galicia, as local people tried to absorb the scale of the disaster.

Still photos from the moment of the deadly crash in northwestern Spain.

Still photos from the moment of the deadly crash in northwestern Spain. Photo: AFP

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was born in the region, visited the scene of the accident and was to visit hospitals.

“In the face of a tragedy such as just happened in Santiago de Compostela on the eve of its big day, I can only express my deepest sympathy as a Spaniard and a Galician,” he said in a written statement late on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Mr Rajoy declared three days of official mourning.

Relatives of the victims of a train accident react outside the Cersia building, where they are attended by psychologists from the Red Cross in Santiago de Compostela.

Relatives of the victims of a train accident react outside the Cersia building, where they are attended by psychologists from the Red Cross in Santiago de Compostela. Photo: AFP

The eight-car train, which left Madrid at 3pm Wednesday, was travelling to Spain’s northwestern coast when it derailed at 8.41pm, according to the Spanish train company, Renfe, which said its technicians were cooperating with the rescue and investigation operations.

Ninety-five people were being treated for injuries, and 36 were in serious condition, including four children, Reuters reported, citing a regional spokeswoman.

The newspaper El Pais cited an unidentified investigation source in reporting that one of the drivers, who was trapped in the cab of the train after the accident, said that the train had taken the curve at more than twice the speed limit of 50 mph.

“I hope no one died because it will weigh on my conscience,” he was quoted as saying.

On Thursday, cranes were used to lift the wreckage off the tracks as rescue workers tried to ensure that all the passengers had been accounted for.

Shocked witnesses described the scale of the destruction as the dead were taken to a temporary morgue.

“The road is full of cadavers,” a radio reporter, Xaime Lopez, said on the station Cadena Ser. “It’s striking: You almost can’t even count them.”

The accident was Spain’s worst train crash since 1972 when 86 people were killed in the southwest of the country. In recent years, Spain has invested heavily in its rail system creating a modern network.

Messages of condolence arrived from several capitals and, in a letter to Mr Rajoy, Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said he was “deeply saddened” by the accident.

“Such a serious accident, with so many people dead and injured, is a tragedy for Spain and provokes such deep emotions,” he said.

The New York Times