A 24-year-old long jumper and a former employment minister are named among the 69 dead in Spain's high-speed train crash
Wrecked carriages thrown down an embankment near Urda, Toledo, after controllers directed a Renfe train to resume at full speed into a stationary Iryo service carrying 147 passengers.Smoke rises from derailed carriages between Los Yébenes and Urda after the crash, which emergency crews feared could surpass the Adamuz disaster, where 46 people died in January.Mangled wreckage on its side after two high-speed trains collided in Toledo province, Spain, killing at least 39 people and leaving survivors scrambling clear while passengers remained trapped.The derailed train near Urda, Toledo, where a computer failure prompted controllers to direct a Renfe service to resume at full speed — a decision Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said left operators with "more…
Train driver Antonio Acedo, 36, activated the emergency brake before the collision — an act his family called heroic — but was killed instantly alongside trainee driver Daniel Muñoz Cob, 31. Audio recordings reveal Madrid's control room told Acedo to resume normal speed without warning him of the stationary Iryo train ahead. Families are still searching hospitals for missing relatives, including a headmaster, a composer, a TV presenter and a food bank volunteer.
Long jumper Julieta Gallego, 24, had 'a life ahead of her that was unjustly extinguished', said the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation president.
Former employment minister Fátima Báñez, 59, who pioneered controversial labour reforms under Mariano Rajoy, was confirmed dead by the business confederation she chaired.
Florida firefighter Josue Garcia-Otero and his nurse wife Diamary survived the crash with six family members, then treated critically injured passengers.
