The death toll from Spain’s deadly high-speed train collision has risen to 69 after another victim died in hospital, Castilla-La Mancha regional president Emiliano García-Page confirmed alongside Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Toledo on Thursday.
“As of today, we can confirm 69 deceased, accounting for one more in a hospital. Of the 110 admissions yesterday across hospitals in Castilla-La Mancha, 60 have already been discharged and 50 remain and still remain under varying levels of concern,” García-Page told reporters.
“Yesterday we experienced a catastrophe that without any doubt has caused a state of shock throughout all of Spain,” he added.
García-Page also reported encouraging signs for four of the 15 seriously injured patients, saying those previously in the most critical condition were improving.
He said 1,300 emergency personnel and seven helicopters had been deployed, with eight blood transfusions performed in flight. Crews continued working to lift an overturned carriage, while human remains recovered from the wreckage still needed identifying.
Sánchez pledged a full investigation into the cause of the collision and compensation for victims’ families.
“The entire State is fully committed to the response […] at a later stage, in the compensation, at least from a material standpoint, that the General State Administration will provide to the relatives of the victims of this terrible tragedy,” the prime minister said.
The disaster struck at around 08:53 local time (07:53 GMT) on Wednesday, when a Renfe high-speed train slammed into the rear of a stationary Iryo service on the Madrid-Seville line. Several carriages derailed, with some plunging down an embankment. More than 500 passengers were aboard the two trains.
Investigators are examining a reported railway safety system failure and why the Renfe train was allowed to resume its journey while the Iryo service remained stationary.
The collision halted high-speed rail services between Madrid and Andalusia, with no confirmed reopening date. Sánchez announced three days of national mourning from October 29 to 31.
The tragedy follows another deadly collision involving Renfe and Iryo trains in Adamuz, Córdoba province, in January, which claimed 46 lives.
Source: Viory
