Spanish rescuers search for victims as train crash death toll rises to 69

URDA, Spain — Rescuers picked through mangled carriages on Thursday in a grim search for victims of Spain’s second fatal high-speed train crash this year, as the death toll rose to 69 and hopes of finding further survivors faded.After cranes worked through the night to lift parts of the wreckage of Wednesday’s crash, emergency workers were seen carrying what appeared to be a body wrapped in a blanket from one of the trains in the central Spanish province of Toledo.Regional leader Emiliano Garcia-Page said the death toll had risen to 69 people and that human remains had been found during overnight rescue efforts.Work now involved crane operations, particularly on a carriage that was still overturned.“We do not believe there could be any more fatalities beneath that one, but I say this with caution,” he said.UNIONS BLAME LACK OF FUNDINGMeanwhile, train drivers in Spain went ahead with a previously planned strike to press for more investment in railway safety a day after Europe’s deadliest train accident since a 2013 derailment in Spain’s Santiago de Compostela.“We will continue demanding the necessary measures to make this sector safe again … It must have all the safety systems required to maintain the quality standards we have always had,” said Diego Martín of the train drivers’ union SEMAF.“We cannot tolerate, under any circumstances, this type of incident happening again.

Everyone should be able to travel without the risk of suffering this kind of accident,” he added at Madrid’s Atocha railway station.The crash, which followed another fatal accident in January involving the same rail companies on the same line, has also upended campaigning for a November 29 snap election, with the leaders of Spain’s two main parties suspending campaign events.Spain’s government has declared three days of national mourning for those killed in the crash, which Transport Minister Oscar Puente said happened after several trains stopped due to a signal ...