Accessibility links

Breaking News
News

Spain Remembers Subway Crash Victims as Officials Investigate

update

Spaniards have held a five-minute moment of silence Tuesday in memory of the 41 people killed in Monday's derailment of a subway train in the city of Valencia.

Officials are seeking to analyze the train's black box data recorder to determine if excessive speeding could be to blame for the accident that injured another 47 people.

Authorities have ruled out terrorism, calling the disaster an accident. Officials said two cars ran off the tracks, overturned, and crashed into a wall as the train was approaching a station. Officials earlier had mentioned possible problems with the train's wheels. But now they insist that these were in perfect condition.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero canceled the rest of a visit to India because of the accident and is expected to join King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia at the first funerals for the victims Tuesday evening.

Thousands of people are in Valencia for the Roman Catholic Church's World Meeting of Families to be held in the city Saturday and Sunday. Pope Benedict is to attend the gathering.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
XS
SM
MD
LG