Driver of derailed Spanish train arrested on suspicion of reckless driving

MADRID, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Spanish police have arrested the driver of a train that derailed and killed 78 people in the country's worst railroad disaster in decades.

Police said Friday that 52-year-old Francisco Garzon Amo was arrested Thursday at a hospital in Santiago where he was being treated for head injuries suffered in the Wednesday derailment that also injured dozens.

Amo was accused of reckless driving but has not been charged yet because he was still receiving treatment for his injuries.

The train's eight carriages crowded with 218 passengers tumbled off the tracks into a concrete wall Wednesday evening before reaching the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela.

Eighty-one passengers remain hospitalized and three bodies have yet to be identified through DNA testing. Authorities reduced the death toll to 78 from 80 after determining that some severed body parts had wrongly been attributed to different victims.

Service was restored Friday between Ourense and Santiago de Compostela but authorities said just two of the three tracks damaged in Wednesday's crash were in use. The third track was expected to be put back in service on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a memorial ceremony for the crash victims was to be held Monday night at Santiago de Compostela's Cathedral.

Amo, who has more than 30 years of experience with the state train company Renfe, was reported to have admitted traveling at 190 km per hour, more than double the 80 kph speed limit for that section of track.

Investigators from Spain's Public Works Ministry, Renfe and the state track operator ADIF were investigating to determine why the train had exceeded the speed limit and why the security system had not worked.

The investigators were trying to collect black box data, including videos, audios and all the technical work that was done on the train.

A video broadcast on Spanish TV showed that the accident apparently was caused by excessive speed as the train went into a curve and hurled off the tracks.

Spain on Thursday declared a three-day national mourning for the crash victims and a minute of silence was observed at midday in all government offices.

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain also visited the victims in Santiago de Compostela on Thursday evening.

Spain's highest-circulation newspaper, El Pais, reported that Wednesday's derailment was the country's deadliest train crash since 1972, when an express train collided with a local commuter train and killed 86 people. Others say 76 or 77 died in the collision, which would make its death toll marginally lower than Wednesday's accident.