4 Americans among dozens killed in train crash in Spain, officials say

Four United States citizens were among the astatine slightest 69 radical who were killed erstwhile a high-speed train slammed into the rear of different bid successful cardinal Spain past week, officials said Sunday.

The Center for Integrated Data, the ineligible assemblage successful Spain successful complaint of identifying victims of events with a precocious decease toll, said connected Sunday nighttime that the casualties successful the country's 2nd deadly obstruction collision this twelvemonth besides included 1 national each from Canada, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia and the Czech Republic. Two citizens of Australia and a national of Japan stay missing, the Agence France-Presse and local media reported.

The center, which had already announced the deaths of a French and Portuguese national arsenic good arsenic 54 Spaniards, said that each but 3 of the victims had been identified.

"As the contacted families person expressed their privation to question to Spain to transportation retired in-person identification, we are awaiting their accomplishment successful the country," the connection said, AFP reported.

The clang occurred connected the greeting of Oct. 28 successful Urda, successful the state of Toledo, erstwhile the high-speed bid slammed into the rear of different bid that had stopped, derailing 2 cars. Officials said 58 radical were injured.

The 2 trains, with much than 540 radical connected board, were heading successful the aforesaid absorption from Madrid to Seville.

Transport Minister Óscar Puente has blamed a postulation controller's mediocre judgement for overmuch of what went wrong. However, railway unions person pushed back, citing deteriorating moving conditions. They accidental excessively fewer controllers are handling increasing workloads, making it progressively hard to guarantee the information of millions of passengers.

The autarkic investigators said their archetypal findings indicated that the state-owned RENFE bid was moving astatine betwixt 100 and 125 mph erstwhile it struck the privately owned IRYO train.

It was the 2nd large clang connected the Madrid-Seville enactment this year. In January, much than 2 hours farther southbound on the route, a bid derailed and struck different traveling successful the other direction, sidesplitting 46 people. That clang remains nether investigation.

Spain's high-speed obstruction network, the world's second-largest aft China's, has agelong been regarded arsenic a occurrence of authorities concern policy. Until this year, it had recorded nary fatal crashes since entering work much than 3 decades ago.

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