Final death toll from Spain's rail disaster is 45, train drivers plan strike

Spanish investigators on Thursday found two more bodies in the wreckage of a highspeed train involved in a devastating collision last weekend later confirming the final death toll as 45The CID the official body handling data following Sundays crash confirmed the final toll in a statement on Thursday eveningAn Andalusia emergency services spokesman had earlier told AFP two bodies had been recovered from the train operated by state company Renfe which smashed into another service by private firm Iryo that had derailed and crossed onto its track The collision which also injured over 120 people was followed by more rail accidents just days laterThe incidents have raised doubts about the safety of train travel in Spain the European Unions fourthlargest economy and a top tourist destination boasting the worlds secondlargest highspeed networkSpain observed three days of national mourning after Sundays collision involving two highspeed trains in the southern region of Andalusia the countrys deadliest rail accident in more than a decadeRescuers found the last two bodies after conducting a more thorough search of two carriages in a severely deteriorated condition the head of the Civil Guards investigative unit Fernando Dominguez told journalists Of the 45 people killed all are Spanish apart from three women from Morocco Russia and Germany according to the CIDSpain is searching for answers to what the transport minister has called an extremely strange disaster which happened on a recently renovated stretch of straight flat track and involved a modern Iryo trainTrain driver strike calledOn Tuesday a train driver died and 37 people were injured when a commuter service hit a retaining wall that fell onto the tracks near Barcelona in the northeastern region of CataloniaThe second accident was thought to have been a consequence of recent heavy rainfall It prompted the suspension on Wednesday of all of the wealthy regions main Rodalies commuter network used by hundreds of thousands of people while safety checks were carried outRodalies services were expected to resume on Thursday but remained suspended as only six of 140 drivers reported for work said Catalan regional government spokeswoman Silvia Paneque Service will resume after inspections involving the drivers she said with no date setThe secretary general of the Semaf train driver union Diego Martin Fernandez told RAC 1 radio that a thorough review of infrastructure had been agreed but that the procedure had not been respected To restore confidence that the infrastructure meets safety conditions we need guarantees he said denouncing fresh landslips on the linesSemaf has called a national strike for February 9 to 11 denouncing repeated safety failings Transport Minister Oscar Puente vowed to negotiate to have the strike called off and said the two tragedies were unrelated defending the public transport systemThe list of incidents grew on Thursday after a commuter train in the southeastern region of Murcia hit a crane mounted on a truck causing six light injuries Murcia emergency services said the victims were taken to hospital after the accident in the municipality of Alumbres where the train did not derailThe mayor of the nearby city of Cartagena Noelia Arroyo wrote on social media that the electricity company truck was working on cables belonging to a building next to the trackThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever