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THE DRIVER OF a train that hurtled off the rails killing 78 people in Spain is to appear before a judge for questioning Sunday, facing possible charges of reckless homicide.
Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, refused to answer police questions Friday from his hospital bed, and the case was passed to the courts.
He was taken to a police station on Saturday after being discharged from hospital and will appear on Sunday before a judge who will decide whether to press formal charges.
Under Spanish law, a suspect can be detained for a maximum of 72 hours before being heard by a judge.
‘Reckless homicide’
Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters Saturday that Garzon Amo faced possible charges of reckless homicide. He was speaking during a visit to the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela where the crash happened.
The train was said to have been travelling at more than twice the speed limit on a curve when it was flung off the rails on Wednesday and slammed into a concrete wall, with one carriage leaping up onto a siding.
Regional authorities now say that 78 passengers died and 178 were injured in the accident.
It was Spain’s deadliest rail accident since 1944 when hundreds were killed in a train collision, also between Madrid and Galicia.
Regional health officials said 71 people were still in hospital, including 28 adults and three children in a critical condition.
Eight foreigners were among the dead — a US citizen, an Algerian, a Mexican, a Brazilian, a Venezuelan, an Italian, a national of the Dominican Republic and a Frenchman.
Claims driver was speaking on mobile
Spanish media published photographs of the man they identified as Garzon Amo after the crash, with blood covering the right side of his face.
The driver should have started slowing the train before reaching a bend that train drivers had been told to respect, the president of Spanish rail network administrator Adif said Saturday.
“Four kilometres before the accident happened he already had warnings that he had to begin slowing his speed,” Gonzalo Ferre told Spanish public television TVE.
Daily newspaper El Mundo, citing sources close to the investigation, reported Saturday that the driver was speaking on his mobile telephone at the time of the accident.
And El Pais, citing unidentified sources in the investigation, reported that the driver, while still trapped in his cab, told railway officials by radio that the train had taken the curve at 190 kilometres (118 miles) an hour. That is more than double the 80 kph speed limit for that section of track.
Driver with firm for 30 years
State railway company Renfe said the driver had been with the firm for 30 years, including 13 years as a driver.
He had driven trains past the spot of the accident 60 times during his time with Renfe, company president Julio Gomez-Pomar told private television Antena 3.
Some media reports described Garzon Amo as a speed freak who once posted a picture on his Facebook page of a train speedometer at 200 kph.
A caption read: “I am on the edge, I can’t go faster or else I will be fined.” The page has since been taken down.
But Garzon Amo also has his defenders.
“He is an excellent professional,” said Antonio Rodriguez, who joined Renfe alongside Garzon in 1982. “It is the first accident he has ever had.”
Questions about track’s speed signalling system
Renfe said the train — a model able to adapt between high-speed and normal tracks — had no technical problems and had just passed an inspection on the morning of the accident.
But experts have raised questions about the track’s speed signalling system.
Since high-speed trains use the route, it has been equipped with an automatic speed control system known as the European Rail Traffic Management System, under which a train’s brakes can be automatically applied if speeding.
But the secretary general of Spain’s train drivers’ union, Juan Jesus Garcia Fraile, told public radio that the system was not in place at the crash site.
Many of the passengers were said to be on their way to a festival in honour of Saint James, the apostle who gave his name to Santiago de Compostela.
The city’s cathedral will host a memorial service on Monday for the victims of the crash.
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There is ALWAYS more than one reason for an accident, blaming the driver entirely is wrong in my opinion. For instance, a reckless individual would have been noted by somebody else in the company at least once in the past 13 yrs. We will have to wait for the final report to know ALL the factors that caused this tragedy.
He woke up on thursday mornin as a train driver.. He went to sleep with a charge of reckless manslaughter of 78 people hanging over him..
His life is ruined no matter how guilty or innocent he is.. Along with all the other families who lost loved ones…
I wouldn’t make my mind up about any incident like this until a full technical report about the track/train was published,this seems all a bit too quick,he’s still in hospital FFS
Agreed. Let the man recover a bit first before charging at him with axes and burning torches.
This man should be put down after this act of negligence! Bragging on his Facebook page about goin 200 kph you would think he was a teenager. Hope he never sleeps again thinking of what he did
Have you forgotten the possibility that it may not be his fault ? An unlikely possibility maybe but angry mob mentality will do nobody any good.
I think there is the possibility that the Facebook page was a fake.
Have to agree with you there Patrick. And @ the journal.ie… why did you report yesterday that he had been charged with reckless homicide and now he faces “possible charges of reckless homicide”!? Same guy, two different qoutes??
I presume the driver didn’t get up in the morning and say ” I’m going to kill a load of passengers today” ……….
I have to agree there with the comment @ Journal. Come on guys – you’ve got a great news portal already without resorting to sensationalism. Leave that to the experts at Sky.
Hi there,
I don’t think any article yesterday said the driver was charged? There was one which said he had been detained since Thursday “for the alleged crimes of reckless homicide” but there was no mention of charges.
Hi Jennifer,
My apologies… It wasn’t here on The Journal that I read that. Got them mixed up. Damn, I hate my obsession with the news :)
Sorry Jennifer.
Ah, that’s what you get for reading your news elsewhere ;) No worries, guys.
From what I’ve read in the Spanish media, the accident occurred pretty much at the point where the train moved from AVE (high speed) lines with very advanced signaling that controls the trains’ speed and won’t allow a driver to exceed speed limits to a conventional normal speed line where signaling systems wouldn’t control the train speed but only advise the driver of it.
I think we need to wait for the dust to settle and allow the technical investigation to run its course before we jump to any conclusions about the driver.
The investigation will be very through and that’s a very high tech train so it will have onboard camera and data recorders.
They’ll go through this much like an air crash investigation.
Innocent ’til proven guilty, eh ? Oh, sorry, wrong way around for some on here. As others have said;, ignore the media speculation and wait for the full report. Media speculates to sell their product, regardless of fallout to any individual, the driver in this case. Benefit of the doubt, people, benefit of the doubt.
Innocent ’til proven guilty, eh ? Oh, sorry, wrong way around for some on here. As others have said;, ignore the media speculation and wait for the full report. Media speculates to sell their product, regardless of fallout to any individual, the driver in this case. Benefit of the doubt, people, benefit of the doubt.
have your say