Train crash disaster driver charged

A witness says the driver of a train which derailed in Spain killing 79 people said he could not brake.

THE driver of a train that hurtled off the rails in Spain has been charged with 79 counts of reckless homicide and released on bail after being questioned by a judge.

The judge ordered Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, to report to court every week, forbade him from leaving Spain and banned him from driving trains for six months, the High Court of Galicia, said in a statement.

Earlier, it emerged that Garzon said minutes after the crash that he had been going fast and couldn't brake and wanted to die, according to a local resident who rushed to the scene.

The resident, Evaristo Iglesias, said he and another person accompanied the blood-soaked Garzon to flat ground where other injured people were being laid out, waiting for emergency services to arrive.

"He told us that he wanted to die,'' Iglesias told Antena 3 television.

"He said he had needed to brake but couldn't,'' Iglesias said. He added that Garzon said "he had been going fast.''

In the interview, Iglesias recalled Garzon's words, '''I don't want to see this, I want to die,' that's what he said repeatedly,'' said Iglesias. '''I had to brake down to 80 and couldn't,''' Iglesias quoted the driver as saying.

Train driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo is helped by Mr Iglesias (L) and another  man from the site of the crash. Picture: Xoan Soler/AP

The train carrying 218 passenger in eight cars hurtled at 190km/h, far over the 80km/h speed limit, into a high-risk curve last Wednesday, tumbling off the tracks and slamming into a concrete wall, with some of the cars catching fire.

The Spanish rail agency has said the brakes should have been applied 4km before the train hit the curve.

On Sunday, Garzon was moved from the police station in the northwestern Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela, near where the accident occurred, to its courthouse just as the deadline of his 72 hours of detention was to expire.

Luis Alaez, the investigative judge, was to question the driver in private and was not expected to comment about it afterward. The judge also was to have access to the information contained in the train's "black box,'' which is similar to those found on aircraft, officials said.

Investigators must determine if Garzon failed to apply the brakes or whether it was a technical failure.

Previously Garzon had exercised his right to remain silent when police tried to interview him, officials said. Spain's state-run train company has described him as an experience driver who knew the route well.

Video has emerged of the horrific moment a high speed train derailed in Spain's north-western Galicia region, killing dozens and injuring many more. Courtesy LiveLeak

On Sunday, the death toll from the train derailment rose to 79 when an injured passenger died at University Hospital in Santiago de Compostela, officials said. She was identified as American Myrta Fariza of Houston, her family said in a statement.

Fariza's friends and family had created a Facebook page while she was hospitalized titled ``Hope for Myrta,'' where they collected donations and communicated.

Officials said 70 people injured in the train accident remained hospitalized on Sunday, 22 in critical condition.

Iglesias was among survivors and witnesses who began to give evidence to police on Sunday.

Meanwhile, authorities said forensic experts have identified the last three bodies.

Victims have been reported from France, Algeria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, France, Italy, Mexico and the United States, but officials have not publicly identified each victim or his or her nationality.

Mourning continued throughout Spain, with Sunday church services being held in remembrance of the dead. A large funeral mass is planned for Monday afternoon in Santiago de Compostela, and the prime minister and royal family are expected to attend.

The crash has cast a pall over the town, a Catholic pilgrimage site. Santiago officials had been preparing for the religious feast of St. James of Compostela, Spain's patron saint, but canceled it after the crash and turned a local sporting arena into a morgue.

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