Spain • • • 🌿 Progressive

Tres profesionales forenses con trajes blancos de protección examinan piezas marcadas con señales amarillas numeradas en un laboratorio
Ilustración alusiva a las labores forenses de identificación de las víctimas del accidente de Urda. · Imagen generada por EPM

Urda crash: 66 of 69 victims identified as search continues

Forensic teams identified 66 of the 69 people killed in Urda, with 60 notifications to families and 29 injured people still admitted in Castilla-La Mancha.

--- The context --- The rail crash at Urda, in the province of Toledo, which happened last Wednesday, is the most serious accident in the history of high-speed rail in Spain. An AVE train struck from behind an Iryo train stopped on the track, with 538 passengers involved. The site remains under surveillance while identification, care for the injured and the investigation move forward. --- The facts --- Forensic teams have now identified 66 of the 69 people who died, and the provisional toll remains at 69, according to the Integrated Data Center. Rescue teams continue this Monday to search for human remains in the crash area. Of those identified, 54 are Spanish nationals and 12 are foreign nationals: four from the United States and one each from Argentina, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Japan, Mexico, Portugal and Tunisia. Authorities expect to complete in the coming hours the identification of the three remaining victims, also foreign nationals. In total, 53 identifications were made through fingerprints and 13 through DNA analysis. So far 60 have been notified to families, 36 corresponding to men and 24 to women, and 47 of the deceased are available to their relatives. Three missing-person reports remain active, involving two Australians and one Japanese citizen. More than 60 professionals have worked without interruption since Wednesday on autopsy and identification work. In four hospitals in Castilla-La Mancha, 29 people remain admitted, nine in intensive care and 20 in conventional beds, after 81 discharges and 110 people treated. --- The positions --- Transport Minister Óscar Puente will take a report on the investigation to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday and will then appear before Congress, where his resignation will be demanded. The Civil Guard has already removed three cars from the Iryo train and two from the AVE to facilitate the search. --- What remains unknown --- The investigation centers on the failure of the LZB system and on the normal running order transmitted from Atocha, when the protocol called for running on sight in response to that type of failure. The preliminary speed of the AVE, between 160 and 200 kilometers per hour according to AITAT, must be confirmed with the black boxes. --- Unanswered questions --- Why was normal running ordered when the protocol called for running on sight after the LZB failure? What will the black boxes confirm about the speed and the decisions before the impact? When will the identification of the three remaining victims be completed? --- EPM analysis --- Rigorous identification and in-person notification must proceed without shortcuts. The technical investigation cannot be displaced either: the sequence linking the system failure, the control center order and the speed must be clarified with verifiable data. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the immediate priority is to complete the identification of the three remaining victims with the same rigor applied to the 66 already confirmed and to sustain care for the 29 people still admitted and for the families that are still awaiting an official notification about their relatives. The investigation must establish with evidence whether the normal running order contradicted the planned protocol and why it happened, because without that documented answer, confidence in high-speed rail safety will remain damaged among citizens and the families directly affected.
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