A Renfe train crashed into a stationary Iryo train outside Urda, Spain, on 28 October, killing 69 people, including several foreign nationals, according to Euronews. Authorities said the Spain train crash was a high-speed train collision, and Euronews described it as one of Europe’s deadliest rail accidents this century.
Four US citizens and one each from Canada, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia and the Czech Republic were among the dead, according to Euronews.
A legal identification body made up of police and forensics experts announced in a late Sunday statement the 10 latest confirmed foreign victims, Euronews reported. That adds to earlier announced deaths of a French and a Portuguese citizen and 54 Spaniards.
All but three victims are now identified, according to Euronews. Three missing-person reports remain active, concerning two Australians and one Japanese citizen.
The Japan Times reported that a Japanese national was confirmed dead and that another Japanese citizen is believed to be among the remaining unidentified victims. That item was available to this report only as a headline and short excerpt, so further detail could not be checked.
According to the Straits Times, a failure of an automatic safety system halted all trains on a 63km stretch of track. The same report says a control centre authorised the Renfe service to resume its journey while the other train was still standing. This account rests on the Straits Times and the near-identical Euronews text, and no response from Renfe, Iryo or Spanish authorities on the safety system or the control centre’s decision is included in the sources.
The sources do not establish the cause of the collision, and no investigation findings are reported.
The crash is Spain’s second high-speed train collision this year. In January, a crash in Andalusia killed 46 people.
The collision came one month before a 29 November general election. Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez seeks to extend his eight-year premiership despite unfavourable polls.
Families of the remaining victims have said they wish to travel to Spain for in-person identification, and authorities are awaiting their arrival.
The sources give nationalities but not the names of the victims. Euronews and the Straits Times carry near-identical text, so they may not be independent accounts of the events.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.