Royals visit deadly train crash site as Spain mourns

ADAMUZ, Spain – Spain’s king and queen visited on Jan 20 the site where two high-speed trains collided at the weekend, killing 42 people, as a second deadly rail accident
overshadowed the start of national mourning.

The country’s deadliest rail accident
in more than a decade took place on Jan 18 when a train operated by rail company Iryo, travelling from Malaga to Madrid, derailed near Adamuz in the southern Andalusia region.

It crossed onto the other track, where it crashed into an oncoming train heading to the southern city of Huelva, which also derailed.

The official death toll rose to 42 by Jan 20 after another body was found in the wreckage, the Andalusian regional government said.

More than 120 people were injured, with 37 still in hospital, including four children, it added.

Dressed in dark clothing, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia shook hands with emergency services workers near the spot where the mangled wreckage of the two trains, which had been carrying more than 500 passengers, lay.

They then visited a hospital in the nearby city of Cordoba where some of the injured are being treated.

Speaking to reporters after leaving the hospital, King Felipe said he wanted to “convey the affection of the entire country” to the victims.

Mr Santiago Salvador, a Portuguese national who broke a leg in the accident, said he felt lucky to be alive.

“I was thrown through the carriage, it felt like being on a carousel,” Mr Salvador, his face covered in cuts, told Portuguese state television RTP.

“It was a very tragic accident; it looked like hell. There were people who were very seriously injured.”

A fresh rail disaster struck Spain on the evening of Jan 20 when a commuter train near Barcelona ploughed into the rubble of a collapsed wall, killing one person and seriously injuring four, emergency services in the north-eastern Catalonia region said.

Crack on tracks

The derailment on Jan 18 was Spain’s deadliest rail accident since 2013, when 80 people died after a train veered off a curved section of track outside the north-western city of Santiago de Compostela.

Flags flew at half-mast on public buildings, television anchors wore black and cabinet ministers curtailed public appearances as Spain observed the first of three days of national mourning
.

The government has vowed a full and transparent investigation into the cause of the accident.

Unlike the 2013 disaster, the derailment occurred on a straight section of track, and the trains were travelling within the speed limit of 250km for the area concerned, officials said.

Spanish media report that the probe is focusing on a crack more than 30cm long in the track at the site of the accident.

The crack may have resulted from “a poor weld or a weld that deteriorated due to train traffic or weather”, daily newspaper El Mundo reported, citing unidentified technicians with access to the inquiry.

Transport Minister Oscar Puente said investigators were looking to see if a broken section of rail was “the cause or the result” of the derailment.

He said the Iryo train was “practically new” and the section of track where the disaster happened had been recently renovated, making the accident “extremely strange”.

Sabotage ruled out

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said “the possibility of sabotage was never considered” and that “there has never been any element suggesting otherwise”.

The head of state rail operator Renfe, Mr Alvaro Fernandez Heredia, said human error has “been practically ruled out”.

In Catalonia, emergency services responding to the train accident on Jan 20 said their teams had treated 37 people, mostly for light injuries.

Emergency workers used torches in the dark to survey the wreckage of the derailed train carriage which had turned into a mass of crumpled metal, an AFP reporter saw on the night of Jan 20.

Spanish rail infrastructure operator Adif said the wall the train had slammed into fell as a consequence of a storm and that Catalan commuter trains would remain suspended.

Adif on Jan 20 also imposed a temporary 160kmh speed limit on parts of the high-speed line between Madrid and Barcelona after train drivers reported bumps.

Maintenance crews will inspect the tracks overnight, and the restriction is expected to be lifted if no issues are found, the company added. AFP