Spain Holds Memorial for Victims of Urda Train Crash

King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain attended a memorial service on 10 November for the 69 people killed in a train crash near Urda, about 40 miles from Toledo. BBC News reported that the crash was Spain's worst rail tragedy since 2013.

The collision happened when a high-speed train ran into the back of a stationary train on the Madrid-Seville line. Twenty-eight people remain in hospital. Spain had another major rail disaster earlier this year, when 46 people died in a collision on the same high-speed line near Adamuz in Andalusia, in the south of the country.

At the memorial, representatives of those killed carried lit candles to the front of the cathedral and placed them beside the main altar. Ana Benítez, whose brother David Benítez, 38, was among the dead, gave the first reading. Among those attending were Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the opposition People's Party, Emiliano García-Page, president of the Castilla-La Mancha regional government, and Carlos Cuerpo, the minister for transport and economy.

Cuerpo took on the transport portfolio after Óscar Puente resigned as transport minister last week. Puente has suggested that human error, combined with a glitch in the safety system, may have caused the Urda crash. The investigation into the accident is still in progress.

According to the Spanish Royal Household, a funeral mass for those killed was held at the Primate Cathedral of Toledo on 10 November and was officiated by the Archbishop of Toledo. The same day saw a nationwide strike by train drivers demanding greater rail safety.

Spain's general election is scheduled for 29 November.