Four U.S. citizens and one each from Canada, one each from Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia and the Czech Republic were among the 69 killed in a high-speed train collision last week in Spain, authorities said. Wednesday’s disaster, one of the deadliest rail accidents in Europe this century, has seen relatives of victims endure an agonizing wait while forensic teams identify the dead, sometimes from individual body parts. A legal body created to take charge of the identification work, made up of police and forensic experts, announced in a statement that the last 10 foreign victims were confirmed late on Sunday. He had already announced the death of a French and a Portuguese citizen, as well as that of 54 Spaniards. All but three of the victims are now identified, the statement added. Three missing persons reports remain active, authorities said. These are two Australians and a Japanese citizen. “As the families contacted have expressed their desire to travel to Spain to carry out personal identification, we are awaiting their arrival in the country,” the statement says. The accident was the second high-speed train collision in Spain this year and raised new questions about the country’s rail safety, after an accident in the southern region of Andalusia in January that killed 46 people. The latest disaster occurred when a service from state operator Renfe collided with the rear of a stopped train belonging to a Spanish company. The tragedy occurred a month before the general elections on November 29, in which socialist leader Pedro Sánchez will try to overcome unfavorable polls and extend his eight-year mandate.
