This image taken from security camera video shows a train derailing in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Wednesday. (AP)
Not only was one of the operators of the Spanish train that fatally derailed Wednesday going way too fast, he also found time to brag about it on Facebook.
Francisco Jose Garzon Amo posted photos of the train’s speedometer on the social networking site, according to Spain media outlet El Pais. Garzon is in custody at a hospital where he is recovering from minor injuries. The accident claimed the lives of at least 80 people.
Garzon, 52, posted a photo of the speedometer reading 200 km/h (125 mph). He responded to a friend who commented on the picture: “If I went any faster, they’d fine me.” A screengrab was obtained by Gawker.com and then later removed from Garzon’s Facebook.
“What fun it would be to drive side-by-side the police and then pass them by, triggering the speed radar,” Garzon added. “Haha, bit of a fine or [train operator] Renfe, ha ha!”
Garzon, a 30-year veteran of Spain’s national rail network, radioed in right before the crash saying the train was going “190” km/h (120 mph).
An Associated Press analysis of video images suggests the train may have been traveling at twice the speed limit, or more, along that curved stretch of track.
Spain’s government said two probes have been launched into the train’s derailment Wednesday night on its approach to this Christian festival city in northwest Spain, where planned celebrations in honor of one of Jesus’ disciples gave way to a living nightmare.
The regional government in Galicia confirmed that police planned to question Garzon, in Santiago de Compostela’s main hospital with unspecified injuries, as both a witness and as a possible suspect, but cautioned that possible faults in safety equipment were also being investigated.
The Interior Ministry raised the death toll to 80 in what was Spain’s deadliest train wreck in four decades. The Galician government said 94 others remained hospitalized in six regional hospitals, 31 of them — including four children — in critical condition.
The U.S. State Department said one American was killed in the crash and five others were injured. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said those numbers were “likely to change” and declined to elaborate.
“Today the American people grieve with our Spanish friends, who are in our thoughts and prayers,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.
With AP