30 Jul 2013

Memorial Mass said for Spanish train crash victims

4:27 pm on 30 July 2013

A Mass was held in north-western Spain on Monday for the 79 people who died in a train crash last Wednesday.

The service was held in the city of Santiago de Compostela, a Catholic pilgrimage site where the train derailed.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who comes from the city, and members of the royal family attended. Pilgrims left flowers and candles at the cathedral gates.

Santiago officials had been preparing for the religious feast of St James of Compostela - Spain's patron saint - but cancelled it after the crash on Wednesday.

The BBC reports 70 people remain in hospital, 22 of them in a critical condition.

Train driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, faces 79 charges of reckless homicide after a court hearing on Sunday.

The train was reportedly travelling at 190km per hour as it took the bend, where the speed limit is 80km/h.

All eight carriages of the train careered off the tracks into a concrete wall as they sped around the curve on the express route between Madrid and the port city of Ferrol.