Four Americans among 69 dead in Spain train crash, three victims still unidentified
The death toll from last week's high-speed train collision in Spain has reached 69. Authorities said 54 of those killed were Spanish citizens.
Late on Sunday, the legal body set up to handle identification confirmed the identities of the latest 10 foreign victims. The body, made up of police and forensics experts, announced the details in a statement.
Among the newly confirmed foreign victims are four citizens of the United States. One citizen each from Canada, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia and the Czech Republic were also killed.
The deaths of a French citizen and a Portuguese citizen had been announced earlier. In total, all but three of the victims have now been identified, the statement added.
Authorities said three reports for missing people remain active. They concern two Australians and one Japanese citizen.
The statement said the families that have been contacted have expressed a wish to travel to Spain to carry out in-person identification, and officials are awaiting their arrival.
The accident happened outside the central village of Urda, around 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of Madrid. A service by state operator Renfe ploughed into the back of a stationary train belonging to the Spanish company Iryo.
According to the account given, the failure of an automatic safety system had halted all trains on a 63-kilometre stretch of track. A control centre nevertheless authorised the Renfe service to resume its journey while the other train was still there.
This was Spain's second high-speed train collision this year. A crash in the southern region of Andalusia in January killed 46 people, and the latest disaster has raised fresh questions about the country's rail safety.
The tragedy came one month before a 29 November general election, in which Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez will seek to overcome unfavourable polls and extend his eight-year premiership.
