Authorities said four US citizens and one national each from Canada, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia and the Czech Republic were among the 69 people killed in last week's high-speed train collision in Spain. The disaster is one of Europe's deadliest rail accidents this century.
A legal body made up of police and forensic experts, set up to handle identification work, announced late on Sunday the 10 latest confirmed foreign victims. It had already announced the deaths of a French citizen and a Portuguese citizen, as well as those of 54 Spaniards. All but three of the victims have now been identified, the statement said.
Three reports for missing people remain active, authorities said, concerning two Australians and one Japanese citizen. The statement said contacted families have expressed a wish to travel to Spain to carry out in-person identification, and authorities are awaiting their arrival.
The collision occurred when a service operated by state operator Renfe struck the rear of a stationary train belonging to Spanish company Iryo outside the central village of Urda, around 130km (80 miles) south of Madrid. According to the account, a failure of an automatic safety system halted all trains on a 63km stretch of track, but a control centre authorized the Renfe service to resume its journey while the other train was still stationary.
The accident was Spain's second high-speed train collision this year and raised fresh questions about the country's rail safety, after a crash in the southern region of Andalusia in January killed 46 people. The disaster came one month before a 29 November general election in which Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez will seek to overcome unfavourable polls and extend his eight-year premiership.
Sources: The Guardian World.