Rail Safety: Four U.S. Citizens Killed in Spain Train Collision
Officials confirmed the identities of victims in the October 28 crash in Toledo, which marks the second fatal rail accident on the Madrid to Seville line this year.
By Andrew Kovalenko ·
Four American passengers died when a high-speed train collided with a stationary railcar in central Spain. The Center for Integrated Data, the Spanish legal body responsible for identifying victims of mass casualty events, announced the findings on Sunday night. The agency also confirmed the deaths of one citizen each from Canada, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia, and the Czech Republic.
At least 69 people were killed in the crash, which occurred in the province of Toledo. The center reported that 54 of the victims were Spanish nationals, while one each from France and Portugal also perished. All but three of the deceased have been identified. Two Australian citizens and one Japanese citizen remain missing, according to reports from Agence France-Presse and local media. The agency stated that it is awaiting the arrival of families who requested to travel to Spain for in-person identification.
The accident happened on the morning of October 28 in Urda. A RENFE high-speed train moving at between 100 and 125 miles per hour struck the rear of an IRYO train that had stopped. The impact derailed two cars of the striking train. Both trains were traveling in the same direction from Madrid to Seville and carried a combined total of more than 540 passengers. Officials reported that 58 people sustained injuries in the collision.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente attributed much of the failure to the poor judgment of a traffic controller. Railway unions disputed this assessment, arguing that deteriorating working conditions played a major role. They cited a shortage of controllers managing growing workloads, which they said compromised the safety of millions of passengers. Independent investigators are currently reviewing the initial findings regarding the speed and mechanics of the crash.
This incident is the second major crash on the Madrid to Seville route in the current year. Earlier this year, a train derailed and struck another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction more than two hours farther south along the line, killing 46 people. That accident remains under investigation. Spain operates the world's second-largest high-speed rail network, behind only China. The system had recorded no fatal crashes since it entered service more than three decades ago.
