Google – AFP, Roland Lloyd Parry (AFP), 26 July 2013
 |
A crane
removes a carriage from the site of the train accident near Santiago
de
Compostela on July 25, 2013 (AFP)
|
SANTIAGO DE
COMPOSTELA, Spain — Spanish police said Friday they have detained the driver of
a speeding train that crashed in the nation's deadliest rail disaster in
decades, accusing him of criminal recklessness.
The country
was in mourning over Wednesday's horrific tragedy, which police said had killed
78 people including several foreigners and injured more than 100.
The
52-year-old driver faces criminal accusations including
"recklessness" over the crash near the pilgrimage city of Santiago de
Compostela, said Jaime Iglesias, police chief in the northwestern Galicia
region.
The train
was said to have been travelling at more than twice the speed limit when it
hurtled off the rails.
 |
An aerial
view shows the site of the
train derailment near the city of Santiago
de
Compostela on July 25, 2013
(AEROMEDIA/AFP)
|
A Spanish
judge had ordered police to question the man, identified as Francisco Jose
Garzon Amo in local media which published photographs of him with blood
covering the right side of his face.
He has not
been charged with a crime and has yet to be quizzed by police about the tragedy
because he is still being treated for unspecified injuries suffered in the
crash.
"The
driver still not gone to court to answer questions and no date has been fixed
for his appearance before the judge," a spokeswoman for Galicia's High
Court, which is leading the investigation, told AFP.
Spain's
leading El Pais newspaper said the driver of the train -- which was carrying
over 200 passengers and crew -- had been unable to brake in time.
Seventy-eight
passengers perished, five of whom have yet to be identified.
Five
foreigners are among the dead -- an American, an Algerian, a Mexican, a
Brazilian and a Venezuelan, police said.
Santiago de
Compostela city hall said a French national was believed to be among the dead
but this has not been confirmed.
Most of the
injured are Spanish but at least eight were foreigners from Argentina, Britain,
Colombia, the United States and Peru.
The number
of people still in hospital dropped to 81, with 28 in critical condition,
including three children, Galician Health Minister Rocio Mosquera said.
A dramatic
10-second video from a railway security camera appears to show the train
rocketing around a curve, slamming into a concrete wall at the side of the
track as the engine overturned.
 |
| Map showing location of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where a train hurtled off the tracks on Wednesday (AFP/Graphics) |
Smoke
billowed from the gutted cars as bodies were strewn across the tracks.
The driver,
while still trapped in his cab, told railway officials by radio that the train
had taken the curve at 190 kilometres (118 miles) an hour, unidentified
investigation sources told El Pais, more than double the 80 kph speed limit on
that section of track.
"I was
going at 190! I hope no one died because it will weigh on my conscience,"
he was quoted as saying.
He has been
with state rail company Renfe for 30 years, including 13 years of experience as
a driver.
Media
reports described Garzon Amo, one of two drivers on the train, as a speed freak
who once gleefully posted a picture on his Facebook page of a train speedometer
at 200 kph.
A caption
read: "I am on the edge, I can't go faster or else I will be fined."
Spanish
newspapers quoted another of his posts as saying: "What fun it would be to
race the Guardia Civil (police) and pass them, causing their radar to blow up
hehehe. What a huge fine that would be for Renfe."
The
Facebook page has since been taken down.
Secretary
of state for transport Rafael Catala said the crash "seems to be linked to
excessive speed" but that he was awaiting the findings of the judicial
probe.
Renfe said
the train -- a model able to adapt between high speed and normal tracks -- had
no technical problems and had just passed an inspection on the morning of the
accident.
Experts
have raised questions about the track's speed signalling system.
 |
Staff at a
hospital in Santiago de Compostela
hold a five-minute silence for victims of
the
train crash, July 26, 2013 (AFP, Cesar
Manso)
|
But the
secretary general of Spain's train drivers' union, Juan Jesus Garcia Fraile,
told public radio the system was not in place at the crash site.
Prime
Minister Mariano Rajoy, a native of Santiago de Compostela, declared three days
of national mourning after visiting the scene Thursday.
Flags flew
at half mast across Spain, cabinet ministers attended a weekly meeting clad in
black and television stations carried an image of a tiny black ribbon thoughout
their broadcasts.
It was
Spain's deadliest rail accident since 1944 when hundreds were killed in a train
collision, also between Madrid and Galicia. In 1972, 77 people died when a
train derailed between Cadix and Seville.
Many of the
passengers were thought to be on their way to a festival in honour of Saint
James, the apostle who gave his name to Santiago de Compostela, an annual event
that draws crowds of pilgrims to the town.
All
festivities have now been cancelled.
 |
Train
driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was among
those injured in the crash
|
Related Articles:
Spain train driver charged with reckless homicide for derailment
Spanish train driver refuses to respond to police questioning
Spain train crash: Driver formally detained
Spain train driver charged with reckless homicide for derailment
Spanish train driver refuses to respond to police questioning
Spain train crash: Driver formally detained
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