At least 60 dead in Spanish train crash

Friday, 25 Jul, 2013 0

An express train crash in the Galicia region of north-western Spain has killed at least 60 people and injured more than 130.

All 13 carriages of the train, which was travelling from Madrid to Ferrol, came off the tracks outside Santiago de Compostela, a city popular with religious tourists.

The crash happened a day before the city’s main festival paying tribute to the remains of St James, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, when thousands of pilgrims travel in to pack the streets.

The apostle’s shrine in the city is the destination of the famous El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, followed by Christians since the Middle Ages.

A passenger told rescuers that the train, with more than 200 people on board, came off the tracks on a bend and carriages rolled over. Some carriages also caught fire.

Leader of the regional government Alberto Nunez told a local radio station that it was too early to say what caused the crash but authorities are working on the theory that it was an accident.

Nunez described the trackside scene as ‘Dante-esque’.

About 320 members of Spain’s national police force have been deployed in response to the train derailment, officials say.

The Galicia crash was one of the worst rail accidents in Europe in 25 years and comes less than a fortnight after six people died when a train came off the tracks and hit the platform at a station in central France.



 

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Ian Jarrett



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