Spain transport minister refuses to resign after high-speed rail crash kills 69
Óscar Puente says he will stay in post to oversee investigation into collision that left at least 69 dead and sparked calls for his resignation.
At a glance
- Spain's transport minister Óscar Puente says he will not resign over a high-speed rail crash that killed at least 69 people near Toledo.
- A preliminary report found the moving train was travelling 160–200 km/h when it hit a stationary train, embedding its front carriage.
- Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the crash unacceptable and noted it was the second fatal collision on the same route in a year.
Spain's transport minister Óscar Puente told a news conference in Madrid on Friday that he will not step down over the high-speed train collision that killed at least 69 people near the town of Urda in Toledo province on Wednesday morning. Puente said he had "nothing to hide" and that his duty was to resolve the problem rather than discuss his position.
The crash occurred when a state-operated Renfe high-speed train travelling between 160 km/h and 200 km/h slammed into the rear of a stationary Iryo train. A preliminary report from transport investigators found the impact embedded the front carriage of the moving train into the tail of the stopped train. It was Spain's deadliest rail disaster since 2013 and the second fatal collision on the Madrid–Seville route in a year; a crash in January at Adamuz killed 46 people.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said public trust in the high-speed network had been broken and called the recurrence "unacceptable." Puente earlier explained that a computer failure around 08:30 on Wednesday halted six trains, including the two that later collided. Leaked audio recordings published by Spanish media appear to show a control centre clearing one train to proceed without speed restrictions despite another train being stalled about 25 km ahead. Puente described that decision as "inexplicable."
The leak drew criticism from some politicians, while left-wing figures argued the blame should not fall on a single worker and pointed to long-standing warnings about railway liberalisation. Puente said he would not use any worker as a shield and promised to examine "many questions" one by one, acting on any human error the investigation uncovers.
Opposition parties and the trade union CSIF have joined calls for Puente's resignation, but he insisted he would not budge, saying the easy path would be to leave but that neither his character nor the prime minister's request allowed it. The country is observing three days of mourning as families of victims, including a 24-year-old athlete and a former government minister, await information. One relative, Esther San Emeterio, said officials were forcing families to wait in "uncertainty" and expressed desperation.
Source: BBC World.
Questions and answers
- Why are there calls for the transport minister to resign?
- Political rivals, a trade union and protesters have demanded Óscar Puente step down after the crash that killed at least 69 people.
- What caused the collision?
- Investigators say a computer failure halted six trains, and leaked audio suggests a control centre cleared a train to move despite another stalled on the track ahead.
- How many people died in the crash?
- At least 69 people were killed, making it one of Europe's worst rail disasters in modern history.
