Scores of passengers killed in Spain train crash
Up to 77 passengers are believed to have died in Spain’s worst rail disaster for 40 years.
More than 140 others – including one Briton – were injured when a train derailed in the Galicia region in the country’s northwest, just outside Santiago de Compestela, a city popular with religious tourists.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware that a British national has been injured in a train crash in Spain yesterday. The Foreign Office is providing consular assistance to the family."
All eight carriages of the train, which was travelling from Madrid to Ferrol, came off the tracks and some caught fire.
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 218 passengers on board, came off the tracks on a bend and carriages rolled over, crushing passenges.
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. Early reports suggest the train was travelling at 180kph, more than twice the speed limit.
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.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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