Spain working ‘tirelessly’ to identify train crash dead, says PM

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez vowed on Friday to keep relatives updated as they supplied DNA samples to assist police in identifying the 69 victims of a high-speed train collision that occurred this week in Castilla-La Mancha, central Spain. The crash, which marked Spain's second such disaster this year and one of Europe's deadliest rail accidents in the 21st century, has left relatives in anguish as they await news.

Rescue crews have been laboring to extract victims from the wreckage, examining bodies in morgues. All branches of the Spanish state are working tirelessly to provide as much information as possible to relatives as soon as it is reliable. Sanchez reiterated his commitment to continuously inform the families who have been submitting DNA samples to aid the identification process.

Castilla-La Mancha's leader, Emiliano Garcia-Page, cautioned that investigators could not rule out the possibility of more fatalities, as 31 bags of partial remains had been collected, complicating the identification efforts. The legal authorities handling the case have received 70 reports of missing persons, many of which may match the unidentified bodies.

Families have been staying in Toledo, where an improvised morgue has been established since the city's regular facility could not accommodate all the corpses. The accident took place when a state-owned train operated by Renfe collided with a stationary train belonging to private company Iryo outside the village of Urda, approximately 80 miles south of Madrid.

The opposition has called for the resignation of Socialist Transport Minister Oscar Puente over his management of the country's rail network. He was scheduled to deliver a press conference on Friday.