Foreign Nationals Among 69 Dead in Spain High-Speed Train Collision, Authorities Confirm

Madrid: Four US citizens and one national each from Canada, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia and the Czech Republic were among the 69 people killed in last week’s high-speed train collision in Spain, authorities have said.

Wednesday’s crash, one of the deadliest rail disasters in Europe this century, has left victims’ families facing a painful wait while forensic specialists work to identify the dead, in some cases from individual body parts.

In a statement issued late on Sunday, a judicial body established to oversee the identification process, comprising police and forensic experts, confirmed the ten most recently identified foreign victims. It had previously confirmed the deaths of one French and one Portuguese citizen, along with 54 Spanish nationals.

According to the statement, all but three of the victims have now been identified. Three missing-person reports remain open, involving two Australians and one Japanese citizen. Authorities said the families concerned had asked to travel to Spain to carry out identification in person and that their arrival was awaited.

The disaster was Spain’s second high-speed train collision this year, renewing concerns over the country’s rail safety record after a crash in the southern region of Andalusia in January claimed 46 lives.

The latest accident occurred when a train operated by the state-owned company Renfe crashed into the rear of a stationary train belonging to private Spanish operator Iryo near the village of Urda in central Spain, about 130 kilometres south of Madrid.

A malfunction in an automatic safety system had brought all trains to a standstill along a 63-kilometre section of track. However, a control centre cleared the Renfe service to continue its journey while the Iryo train remained stationary ahead.

The tragedy comes a month before Spain’s general election on 29 November, in which Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will seek to overturn unfavourable opinion polls and secure an extension of his eight-year tenure.