Former minister, young long jumper and train driver, 36, are among 69 killed as the search continues after Spain's rail crash
Train driver Antonio Acedo, 36, who activated the emergency brake before the collision but was killed instantly when Madrid's control room directed him to resume normal speed without warning him of the stationary Iryo…Fátima Báñez, who pioneered controversial labour reforms as employment minister under Mariano Rajoy, was confirmed dead by the business confederation she chaired.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.
Train driver Antonio Acedo, 36, activated the emergency brake in his final seconds, his family says, after the Madrid control room authorised his Renfe service to proceed at full speed without warning him of the stationary Iryo train ahead. Chilling radio recordings capture the moment he was told to resume at normal speed — and never learned another train was blocking the track. Former employment minister Fátima Báñez, 59, and long jumper Julieta Gallego, 24, are among those confirmed dead, with a headmaster, a composer and a TV presenter still missing.
Acedo's family called him a 'hero'; a trainee driver beside him, Daniel Muñoz Cob, 31, also died.
Gallego, a Madrid club long jumper, had a personal best of 5.9m; Spain's athletics federation said her death 'strikes at the very heart of the athletics family.'
Florida firefighter Josue Garcia-Otero and his nurse wife Diamary survived the crash with six family members, then treated critically injured passengers at the scene.
