Death toll in Spanish high-speed train crash rises to 69

On the 28th (local time), the death toll in a high-speed train collision in Urda, a city near Toledo in central Spain, increased to 69.

According to Reuters, Governor Emiliano Garcia-Paje of the state of Castile-La Mancha, where Toledo belongs, announced on the 29th that some additional bodies were recovered during rescue operations, and that the death toll from this accident increased to 69.

At the accident site, a crane was mobilized overnight to lift the remains of the damaged carriage and a search was conducted inside the carriage. Authorities believe there is little chance of additional deaths.

This accident occurred when a Renfe AVE train, a state-owned railway company, traveling at a speed of 200 km/h on the high-speed rail line connecting Spain's capital Madrid and southern Andalusia, collided with the rear of a stopped private Irio train. Authorities reported that more than 100 people were injured in this disaster, and 57 are still hospitalized.

The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that 42 foreigners from 7 countries, including Korea, were also on board the train, of which one died and at least 7 were injured. According to the Korean Embassy in Spain, there were 10 Koreans on board, and two of them were injured and received hospital treatment.

Meanwhile, the Spanish train drivers' union went ahead with a previously announced strike today, demanding increased investment in railway safety. As a result, high-speed train operations are being disrupted, Reuters reported.

Last January, two high-speed trains collided in the Cordoba region of Andalusia, causing massive casualties, and the recurrence of a major disaster nine months later is raising serious questions about railway safety in Spain.