Spain declares 3-day mourning for train crash victims

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has declared three days of mourning following one of Europe’s worst rail disasters, which killed at least 80 people.

“For a native of Santiago, like me, this is the saddest day,” Rajoy said Thursday.

He called for a thorough investigation into the Wednesday tragic incident which happened three kilometers (two miles) from Santiago de Compostela station in the northwestern region of Galicia.

Rajoy pledged to provide the required assistance for those affected in the incident, adding that the Public Works Ministry launched a parallel investigation into what caused the crash.

“At this moment, we are carrying out two investigations, which are coordinated. One is the judicial investigation and the other is the investigation by the Inquiry of Rail Accidents Commission, which depends on the Public Works Ministry. As quickly as possible and, of course asserting a diagnosis, the goal is to know what were the causes of this very serious train accident,” said Rajoy.

The train was transporting 218 passengers and five crewmembers from Madrid to the ship-building city of Ferrol on the Galician coast as the Galicia region was preparing celebrations in honor of Saint James.

Four carriages of the train overturned at the time of the accident, as wagons starting piling into each other and folding up.

At least 80 people died and 143 wounded with 36 in critical condition, among them four children.

Police placed one of the drivers of the train under formal investigation, who admitted to going at more than twice the speed limit. The other driver remains in hospital.

The tragedy is regarded as one of the worst in the history of Spain’s rail network.

In 1972, a train derailment in Andalusia in the south left 77 people dead.