MADRID: Spanish police fired tear gas and moved in with batons on protesters who gathered outside the Transport Ministry in Madrid on Wednesday night demanding the resignation of Transport Minister Óscar Puente over the high-speed train crash that killed at least 68 people near Urda in Toledo province.
Hundreds of demonstrators, called to the ministry on Paseo de la Castellana through social media, chanted "Óscar Puente, minister of death" and "Óscar Puente, murderer"; some also demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Sections of the crowd threw bottles and lit flares, and riot police moved in to break up the gathering, which ended around 9.30 pm after nearly two hours. Reports said far-right groups, among them Falange and the organisation Revuelta, and the union Solidaridad, linked to Vox leader Santiago Abascal, had backed the protest. Turnout estimates ranged from about 500 to more than 1,000.
The civil servants' union CSIF also demanded Puente's resignation, accusing him of making a scapegoat of the Adif traffic controller on duty instead of "assuming his responsibilities", and said it had warned in September about excess working hours at Adif.
Puente has refused to step down. Asked about his future, he said: "Right now what I am thinking about is clarifying this and trying to resolve it." Earlier, he told reporters the crash followed an "inexplicable" decision to let a train run despite a stop signal, and said the train drivers were not to blame.
Sánchez, who visited the crash site, said "the whole of Spain is grieving", announced three days of national mourning and called it "unacceptable" for Spain to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year. The opposition People's Party cancelled its campaign events for the day. Spain votes on November 29.
The crash occurred at 8.53 am on Wednesday between Urda and Los Yébenes, about 140 km south of Madrid, when a Renfe AVE train travelling from Madrid to Seville ploughed into the rear of a stationary Iryo train on the same line. The Renfe train was carrying 397 passengers, the Iryo service 147, including a baby. Two carriages of the Iryo train derailed. The Castilla-La Mancha regional government said at least 68 people were killed — 24 on the Renfe train and 44 on the Iryo train — and 58 people were being treated in hospitals. High-speed services between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia were suspended.
According to Puente, a computer malfunction at 8.30 am knocked out the LZB signalling system along a 63-km stretch, automatically halting every train on it. The state rail infrastructure manager Adif then took manual control and authorised the Renfe train to resume without speed restrictions even though a red signal was still active, with the Iryo train standing about 25 km ahead. The train covered that distance at roughly 200 kmph before the collision 23 minutes later. Investigators are still establishing the exact speed at impact.
The toll makes this Spain's deadliest rail crash since the 2013 Santiago de Compostela derailment that killed 80. It is the second fatal high-speed collision in nine months: on January 18, an Iryo train from Malaga derailed near Adamuz in Córdoba province and hit an oncoming Renfe train, killing 46 and injuring more than 100. Both crashes involved the same two operators on the Madrid-Andalusia corridor. Two days after Adamuz, a commuter train hit a collapsed retaining wall near Gelida outside Barcelona, killing one person and injuring 41; in February a motorist was killed at a level crossing near Talavera de la Reina. Before this year, Spain's dedicated high-speed network had recorded no fatal crash since it opened in 1992.
The Indian Embassy in Madrid has issued emergency helpline numbers for Indian nationals who were on the affected trains or their relatives: +34 650 339 008 and cons.madrid@mea.gov.in. Renfe's helpline is 900 10 10 20 and Iryo's 900 001 403.
Also Read: 68 dead in train collision in Spain — https://www.dailypioneer.com/world/68-dead-in-train-collision-in-spain
(With inputs from PTI and media reports)
Pioneer News Service (aggregated)