Post date: Jul 27, 2013 5:37:53 PM
Spain's Interior Minister Jorge Fernanez Diaz confirms the driver of the train that crashed on Wednesday is in police custody.
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, SPAIN (JULY 27, 2013) (REUTERS) - The driver of a Spanish train that derailed at high speed killing 78 people was released from hospital on Saturday (July 27), but he remained in police custody ahead of an appearance before a judge to answer questions about what went wrong.
Francisco Garzon, 52, was treated for a head injury he sustained in Wednesday's (July 24) crash. He declined to give a statement to police on Friday."The train driver has arrived at the station as he has been released from hospital. His legal situation is that he has detained by the police on charges of alleged reckless homicide," Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said at the police headquarters of Santiago de Compostela, the northwestern city where the crash occurred.
Police had already said Garzon, who has been under arrest since Thursday (July 25), was suspected of "recklessness" in driving the train much too fast through a curve on the outskirts of Santiago.
Survivors and families of victims from Spain's deadliest train crash in decades were desperate for answers three days after the eight-carriage, high-speed train derailed on a sharp bend, slamming into a concrete wall.
Several bodies were still unidentified and dozens of injured were in hospital in serious condition.
Fernandez said he expected identification to happen quickly.
"From early this morning the Forensic Police tests have been entered into the national DNA data base, we have to compare them in such a way we that we have the assurance that in a short time frame, I would dare say those unidentified people will be identified in hours rather than days," he said.
The government has said a clearer picture would emerge from two official investigations, one judicial and one governmental, but there was growing pressure for assurances that Spain's rail network was safe.
Information from the black box has not yet been revealed.
"The black box is in custody and we it will not be until it is handed over to the Commission of Investigation that it will be analyzed. At this moment nothing is known of its contents," Spanish Development Minister Ana Pastor said.
Santiago was meant to be celebrating the yearly festival of St. James this week.
Thousands of Christian pilgrims arrived after walking the famous Camino de Santiago trail over the Pyrenees, or from Portugal.
Festivities were canceled after the accident - which happened on the eve of the festival. Although many were trying to return to normal life, the mood in the city was subdued.