PM Rajoy to visit deadly Spanish train crash

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was to visit Spain's deadliest train crash in four decades Thursday as the death toll rose to at least 72 and a probe was started. "I want to express my affection and solidarity with the victims of the terrible train accident," Rajoy said on Twitter announcing his visit. He said he was "devastated" by the high-speed crash, which injured more than 140 and left at least 10 people unaccounted for. He said he would "offer condolences and bring Spanish support" to the families of the dead and injured. The accident in Santiago de Compostela, the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain, where Rajoy was born, occurred at 8:41 p.m. Wednesday, about an hour before sunset. The eight-car nearly new hybrid diesel-electric train, carrying 218 passengers and four crew members, emerged from a tunnel at about 120 mph and derailed on a sharp curve whose speed limit is 50 mph, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported. The derailment about 2.5 miles from the Santiago train station sent cars flying. Bodies, some amputated, were covered in blankets next to the tracks as rescue workers tried to get trapped people out of the train's cars. Some people were pulled out of broken windows. Images showed one train car pointed up into the air with one of its ends twisted out of shape. Another car, severed in two, was lying on a road nearby. At least one car caught fire. Five people were in comas in a hospital, Galicia Health Minister Rocio Mosquera said. "Help came in five minutes but that time was eternal," Oscar Mateos, a policeman who was a passenger in the first car, told El Pais. "I helped out people with broken legs and many bruises." The train, which started in Madrid, was scheduled to end its journey at El Ferrol, an Atlantic coastal city about 60 miles north of Santiago de Compostela. The train wasn't one of Spain's highest speed bullet trains, called AVEs, though it was using the same type of track as Spain's fastest expresses, which can go nearly 200 mph. The route had been renovated to suit the high-speed trains, but the signaling system was not updated, El Pais said. An engineer for state-owned ADIF -- which manages most of Spain's railway infrastructure, including tracks, signaling and stations -- told the newspaper while speeding contributed to the accident, some other cause must also have contributed to it. He didn't say what he thought the other cause was. ADIF and state-owned train operator Renfe Operadora promised to cooperate with a judge appointed to investigate the accident. Santiago de Compostela officials canceled ceremonies planned for Thursday, when Catholic pilgrims converge on the city to celebrate a festival honoring St. James, a disciple of Jesus whose remains are said to rest in a shrine dedicated to St. James in the city. People who follow the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route have gathered in Santiago de Compostela July 25 since medieval times. Wednesday's accident was Spain's deadliest train crash since 1972, when a train going to the southwestern city of Seville killed 77 people.