Train collision in Spain kills 69
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on IOL
A collision between two high-speed trains near Urda, Spain, has killed 69 people and injured many others, according to regional authorities. The death toll rose on Thursday after Wednesday’s crash south of Madrid, as families provided DNA samples to identify victims, IOL reports.
The collision of two high-speed trains in central Spain killed 69 people, according to regional authorities quoted by IOL. The accident happened on Wednesday morning on a line linking Madrid and Seville: a train operated by state-owned Renfe struck the rear of a stationary train belonging to private company Iryo.
Rescue teams continued searching the site on Thursday, near the village of Urda, about 130 kilometres south of Madrid. In Toledo, 52 bodies had been transferred to a morgue with a capacity of 30, prompting the army to set up a temporary facility. Families provided DNA samples to identify the victims.
Spain observed the first of three days of national mourning on Thursday, with flags at half-mast and a minute’s silence. This is the second high-speed train accident in the country this year; a collision on the same line in January killed 46 people, IOL reports.
The death toll rose from 68 to 69 on Thursday, as relatives continued to wait for news of people reported missing. The disaster has renewed questions about the safety of Spain’s high-speed rail network, the world’s second largest after China’s, according to IOL.
