78 dead in worst Spanish train crash in decades

A train flew off the tracks as it reportedly tore at twice the speed limit around a bend in northwestern Spain, killing at least 78 passengers and injuring more than 140 in the nation's deadliest rail disaster since 1944.

Carriages piled into each other and overturned in yesterday's crash, smoke billowing from the wreckage of mangled steel and smashed windows as bodies were laid out under blankets along the tracks.

State railway company Renfe said it was too early to determine the cause but several media outlets said the train carrying 218 passengers and four crew was speeding.

It came off the tracks on a curve at 8:42 pm (00:12 IST) yesterday as it was about to enter Santiago de Compostela station in the northwestern region of Galicia.

One of the drivers who became trapped in the cab after the accident told railway officials by radio shortly after the crash that the train had taken the bend at 190 kilometres an hour, unidentified investigation sources told El Pais newspaper. The speed limit on that section of track is 80 kilometres an hour.

'I hope no one died because it will weigh on my conscience,' he said, according to the paper's online edition.

The eight carriages derailed on a stretch of high-speed track about four kilometres from the station in the city, the destination of the famous El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage which has been followed by Christians since the Middle Ages.

The train was the Alvia model which is able to adapt between high-speed and normal tracks.

It had left Madrid and was heading for the coastal shipbuilding town of Ferrol as the Galicia region was preparing celebrations in honour of its patron saint James.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a native of Santiago de Compostela, visited the scene of the accident today and declared three days of mourning.

King Juan Carlos and Crown Prince Felipe called off their public engagements out of respect for the victims.

Rescue workers recovered 73 bodies from the wreckage and four more victims died later in hospital, a spokesman for the Galicia high court said.

Provincial officials later said the death toll had risen to 78 while more than 140 people were injured.