One Argentine is among the 69 people killed in Wednesday’s high-speed train collision near Toledo, Spain, and another is missing, Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said. The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha, where Toledo is, gave the toll of 69 dead.
The ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that one Argentine death was confirmed, another Argentine’s whereabouts are unknown and other Argentines were injured, without saying how many. It did not name anyone. Argentine news reports identified the dead woman as Ana Martina Conte Grand, a podiatrist from San Juan province. Her brother was travelling with her and was taken to a hospital in Toledo.
The missing man is Agustín Randazzo, 51, who was born in Buenos Aires and has lived in Madrid since about 2002. He was travelling on business from Madrid to Seville in car 8 of the Renfe train, his relatives say. His brother Jorge reported him missing in Madrid and gave a DNA sample. A cousin, Rafael García Junicol, said the family was told to wait because “they are collecting data and there are many injured people without documents.” Spain’s Civil Guard has opened offices in Madrid, Toledo, Seville and Córdoba where relatives of the missing can give DNA samples.
The collision happened at about 8:53 a.m. on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line, between Urda and Los Yébenes in Toledo province, when a train of Renfe, the state operator, hit a stopped train of Iryo, a private operator, from behind. Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a computer failure stopped trains along a 63-kilometer (39-mile) stretch, and that the control center of ADIF, the state track manager, then ordered the Renfe train to resume without a speed limit although a signal was red, an order he called “inexplicable.” He said he was stating facts, not assigning blame. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared three days of national mourning.
Argentines seeking news of relatives can call the emergency line of the Argentine Consulate General in Madrid, +34 609 240 408, the Foreign Ministry said.