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A train in Madrid was travelling at 95 mph while its conductor was using his phone. According to the Huffington Post, the train in Spain was traveling at almost twice the speed limit when it hit a curve. 218 passengers were being carried in eight train cars, while the conductor was looking at a document on his phone with a colleague. When the train reached the curve, the brakes were hit too late. The train derailed and slammed into a concrete wall and 79 people were killed.
The disaster derailment occurred near Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain last Wednesday. 66 people were hospitalized and 15 of those are in critical condition. This train stop was near a famous locale that marks a sacred place on a pilgrimage as Christians have gone to El Camino de Santiago for many centuries. Festivities at the shrine of the faithful were cancelled.
Spanish political leaders join with the public to mourn in the 12th century cathedral and pray for those who were tragically lost in the accident. The black box of the train is being analyzed, and an investigation is undergoing. No technical failures have been cited, although it seems that the train driver had been on his phone with a train controller and it seems that the driver was consulting a plan or a kind of document at the time of the crash. The European Rail Traffic Management System and the Spanish Rail Company are searching thoroughly for causes. The Ministry of Transport is also examining the rear and front black boxes recovered from the train. The investigation will likely last a month or so more, as investigators from the court and forensic police experts are called to assist in the investigation. Train driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo has been charged with negligent homicide. Though the train driver faces charges he has not been arrested as he isn’t expected to flee the country.
