Spain’s transport minister, Óscar Puente, has resigned six days after a high-speed train collision near Urda in Toledo province killed at least 69 people, Hiru News reported, citing foreign media.
Puente stepped down on Tuesday. He said a transport minister in a country like Spain could not remain in office after two accidents of that severity in less than a year — a reference to the Urda crash and an earlier high-speed collision in January. Together the two disasters killed more than 115 people.
He announced the decision at the close of a parliamentary committee hearing, and said he would also withdraw from the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) list for the snap general election called by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The crash
The collision happened on the morning of Wednesday 28 October, when a high-speed service ran into the back of a stationary train near the town of Urda, south of Madrid. Dozens more were injured.
It is among the deadliest rail accidents in recent European history and the worst recorded in Spain since 2013, when 80 people died in a derailment at Angrois, near Santiago de Compostela.
Political context
The crash had already reshaped the campaign before Puente’s departure. Spain votes on 29 November, and the disaster moved rail safety to the centre of the contest, Al Jazeera reported on 30 October. Far-right demonstrators had gathered to demand the prime minister’s resignation.
Puente had publicly rejected the argument that the crash showed Spain’s railways were unsafe, describing the network as reliable and safe.
Note on the death toll
LankaNewz first reported this crash on 28 October with a toll of 64, updated to 68 the following day. The figure now being reported is 69. Al Jazeera’s own 30 October article carries several different counts in different paragraphs — 64, 68 and 69 — so the progression reflects a toll that rose over the first days rather than a correction by any single outlet.
Sri Lanka’s station masters’ union sent condolences to their Spanish counterparts after the crash.
Not reported
Neither source names Puente’s successor, gives the cause finding of the official investigation, or states the death toll of the January collision separately.
