Train derails in Spain killing dozens, excessive speed being implicated

A high-speed passenger train that was reportedly traveling at more than double the speed limit derailed just outside a station in northwest Spain on Wednesday evening, killing at least 78 people and injuring over 100 near Santiago de Compostela, according to an El Pais report (computer translated).

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At least 73 people died at the scene, and four others died while hospitalized, said María Pardo Ríos, spokeswoman for the Galicia regional supreme court. In Spain, judges typically record deaths that take place outside of hospitals.

The number of injuries stands at about 130, with some 20 people in critical condition.

Samuel Juarez from the Hospital Clinico the Government Delegate said, “I still can increase the death toll because many wounded whose life is in danger.”

The train, carrying 222 passengers and four crew, reportedly had been traveling at 110 miles per hour, but that the speed limit for the stretch of track where the derailment occurred was 50. The train derailed with such force that one car leapt 15 feet in the air and 45 feet from the tracks.

Today, emergency crews continue to search the wreckage, aided by cranes, looking for bodies.

Spain’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has traveled to Santiago to assess the scene. He is also expected to visit the injured in hospital.

Residents who lived near the tracks told the Voz de Galicia newspaper that they heard a thunderous bang when the train crashed. Many of them rushed to the area with blankets and bottled water for the injured.

The New York Times reports, if the initial casualty estimates hold, the accident will rank among Europe’s most deadly rail crashes in recent years. In 2006, an underground metro train in Valencia, Spain, derailed and killed 41 people.