Spain Train Derailment: At Least 35 Killed After Locomotive Derails; some witnesses report explosions

[mountaineer]

Spain Train Derailment: At Least 35 Killed After Locomotive Derails Near Santiago De Compostela
The Huffington Post  |  By Ryan Craggs
  Updated: 07/24/2013 6:56 pm EDT

La Voz de Galicia reports dozens of people have been killed in a train derailment outside Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

According to the newspaper, the high-speed commuter train derailed at 8:42 p.m. on a route traveling from Madrid to Ferrol. Conflicting reports have come out about the number of deaths involved in the accident.

Twitter users have uploaded several images of the wreck so far, showing the extent of the damage.


Currently, emergency crews have put the highest priority on rescuing those trapped in the affected cars, which could be up to 13 people.

"There are so many dead here, my God!" a nearby neighbor told Radio Gallega. Another described the scene, saying it began with "a big explosion," followed by a destroyed train car traveling several meters. Mari, a nearby citizen, said she heard an enormous explosion, followed by a "torpedo of dust and sound." ...

click on link for rest of story, more photos

[mountaineer]

At Least 56 Die in Train Derailment in Northwestern Spain: State TV
First-Ever Wreck on Spanish High-Speed Track Appears to Be an Accident, Interior Ministry Says

MADRID—At least 56 people were killed and around 70 hurt late Wednesday after a train derailed near Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.

The accident appeared to be caused by excessive speed as the train approached the station at Santiago de Compostela, the capital of the region of Galicia, state television reported. The express train, of a type that runs on high-speed tracks but slightly slower than the highest-speed models, had departed from Madrid earlier in the day. The train was headed to El Ferrol, about 60 miles north of Santiago de Compostela.

Reports on the number of casualties varied and couldn't immediately be confirmed. This is the first accident ever on a Spanish high-speed train track. Spain has one of the largest high-speed networks in the world, covering most large cities.

"Everything right now points to an accident," a spokesman for Spain's interior ministry said, adding there was so far no evidence of terrorism. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was due to visit the site of the derailment Thursday morning, the Spanish government spokeswoman said.

The head of the Galicia region, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said at least 56 people died and of the 70 hurt, 20 were seriously injured, Reuters reported, citing an interview on Spanish radio.

"The scene is shocking, it's Dante-esque," he said in the interview.

Emergency personnel respond at the scene of a train derailment in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Wednesday, where dozens died.

The train carried 218 passengers plus crew members, according Renfe, Spain's state-owned train company. Images broadcast on state TV showed a string of burned and mangled train cars still smoking at a bend in the track. Several bodies covered by blankets were also shown.

The train crashed about 2 miles away from Santiago de Compostela at around 8:42 p.m. local time, when between 10 and 13 cars overturned, state TV reported.  ...

More photos at Wall St. Journal

[Atomic Cow]

A lot of reports are saying the train was going way too fast for that curve.

[mountaineer]

Horrendous.
More from BBC

[mountaineer]

WATCH: The moment a high speed train derails in Spain killing 77, including Americans

At least 77 die in train crash
By JOE TACOPINO
From  Post Wire Services
Last Updated: 7:48 AM, July 25, 2013
Posted:  2:15 AM, July 25, 2013

A passenger train derailed in Spain yesterday, killing at least 77 people trapped inside the crushed cars and injuring 143.

There were Americans among the dead, according to television reports.

The tragic high-speed derailment, along a curving stretch of track in the northwestern part of the country, was Spain’s worst rail accident in decades, officials said.

Bodies were covered by blankets along the tracks as rescuers used pickaxes to pry open the cars and free people inside the train cars.
 
Some rescuers kneeled atop train carriages that were lying on their sides and broke open the doors to reach survivors.

Images showed one car pointing up with one end twisted. Another carriage that had been severed in half was lying on a road near the track.

The crash occurred about an hour before sunset after the train from Madrid emerged from a tunnel and derailed on the curve — sending cars flying off the tracks about two miles from the Santiago de Compostela station in the Galician region. At least one caught fire.

“The train traveled very fast and derailed and turned over on the bend in the track,” passenger Sergio Prego told Spanish radio network Cadena SER. “It’s a disaster. I’ve been very lucky because I’m one of the few able to walk out.”

Another passenger, Ricardo Montero, told the radio network that “when the train reached the bend, it began to flip over many times, with some carriages ending up on top of others, leaving many people trapped . . . We had to get under the carriages to get out.”

Officials said they believe the crash was an accident, but declined to offer more details.


Video of the crash is at NY Post

[mountaineer]

El Pais said one of the drivers was trapped in his cabin and told the railway station by radio that the train entered the bend at 190 kilometres per hour (120 mph).

'We're only human! We're only human!' he told the station, the newspaper said, citing sources close to the investigation. 'I hope there are no dead, because this will fall on my conscience.'

Daily Mail

[mountaineer]

Spanish train driver was on the phone at time of crash
Reuters – 5 mins ago

MADRID (Reuters) - The driver of the train that derailed in northwestern Spain last week, killing 79 people, was talking on the phone with state train operator Renfe at the time of the accident, a court said on Tuesday after analyzing the train's data recording devices.

The initial reading of the so-called black boxes said driver Francisco Garzon received a call from Renfe minutes before the accident to discuss the path to Ferrol, the final destination for the high-speed train that departed from Madrid on Wednesday with 218 passengers aboard.

The court investigating the case said that by the conversation and background noise picked up on the black boxes, the driver appeared to be consulting a map or some kind of paper document while on the phone with Renfe staff.

The train was travelling at 192 km (120 miles) per hour in the minutes before it derailed in a curve where speed is limited at 80 km per hour, according to the two black boxes, which are actually orange in color and located at the front and the back of the train.

The eight-carriage train slowed to 153 km per hour at the time of the crash after a brake was activated seconds before.

Garzon, 52, admitted in a closed-door hearing on to taking the curve too fast, blaming it a momentary lapse, according to media reports.

He has been charged with negligent homicide by Investigating Magistrate Luis Alaez, who is also probing whether the train, the tracks or the security system that slow down the trains may also have been at fault.

Sixty-six people remained in hospital from the crash on Tuesday, with 15 in critical condition