Spain train crash death toll rises to 68 at Urda
Four more bodies have been recovered since the last count. A judge must approve the search of the twisted carriages before it resumes.
The death toll from the collision of a high-speed AVE train with a stationary Iryo train at Urda, in Spain's Toledo province, has reached 68. Castilla-La Mancha's 112 emergency service counts the bodies recovered from both trains, four more than the 64 in our first report.
Regional president Emiliano García-Page broke the figure down: 44 of the victims were on the Iryo, which was stopped on the track, and 24 on the AVE that hit it from behind. The earlier count was 40 and 24.
A Civil Guard officer is among the dead, the force said in a message of condolence to his family and colleagues.
The cause has not been established. Iryo has said it does not know why its train was struck from the rear.
It is the second high-speed rail disaster on the Madrid-Andalusia line in under ten months. In January, an Iryo and an Alvia collided at Adamuz, in Córdoba, and more than 40 people died.
The toll could still climb. García-Page had warned that deaths would exceed the "at least 30" of the first count. He now says firefighters will resume searching the twisted carriages once the judge allows it, with cranes and help from the military's emergency unit.
