Spanish Train Driver Francisco Garzon Charged With 79 Counts Of Homicide

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain,
July 28 (Reuters) - The driver of a
Spanish high-speed train that
derailed and killed 79 people was
released pending trial on charges of
reckless homicide, a judge ruled on
Sunday night.

Francisco Garzon, 52, had been
under arrest since Thursday. He is
suspected of driving the train too
fast through a tight curve on the
outskirts of the northwestern
Spanish city of Santiago de
Compostela.
Examining Magistrate Luis Alaez
formally charged Garzon with "79
counts of homicide and numerous
offences of bodily harm, all of them
committed through professional
recklessness," the court said in a
statement.

In a closed-door hearing before
Judge Alaez, Garzon admitted
taking the curve too fast, blaming it
on a momentary lapse, according to
media reports.
Alaez set the following conditions of
release: Garzon must check in
regularly with the court, surrender
his passport and not drive trains.
None of the parties in the case,
which include state train operator
Renfe, state railway firm Adif and
two insurance companies, had
asked for Garzon to be jailed
pending trial, and he was not seen
as a flight risk, the court statement
said.

At 8:41 p.m. on Wednesday the
eight-carriage, high-speed train
slammed into a concrete wall,
crumpled, and some of the cars
caught fire. The impact was so
strong that one of the carriages was
thrown several metres high over an
embankment.
The death toll from Spain's worst
train disaster in decades rose to 79
after one injured person - a woman
from the United States - died on
Sunday.
Seventy people remain hospitalised
with injuries from the crash, 22 are
in critical condition.
Garzon has worked for Renfe for 30
years, 10 as a driver. His father also
worked on the rails and he grew up
in Renfe-owned housing in the
northwestern town of Monforte de
Lemos and went to school with
other train-workers' children.
After the accident he was
hospitalised with a head injury. On
Saturday he was released from the
hospital but remained in police
custody until he was taken to the
hearing at Santiago de Compostela's
main courthouse.
Neither lawyers nor members of
Garzon's family could be reached
for comment.

Alaez has been assigned to
investigate the case and will also
look at whether the train, the tracks
or the security system that slows
down the trains were at fault.

UP TO THE DRIVER
The Alvia train involved in the
accident, one of three types of high-
speed train services that run in
Spain, received a full maintenance
check on the morning of the
journey, the head of Renfe said, and
security systems were in good
shape.
"As far as we know, the train was in
perfect condition when it set off on
its journey," Renfe President Julio
Gomez-Pomar told newspaper ABC.

The Alvia trains run both on
traditional tracks, where drivers
must heed warning systems to
reduce speed, and on high-speed
tracks where a more sophisticated
security system will automatically
slow down trains that are going too
fast.
At the section of the track where
the accident happened, it was up to
the driver to respond to prompts to
slow down.
Gomez-Pomar rejected criticism
that the safety system was
insufficient, saying the debate "does
not make much sense".

CELEBRATIONS CANCELLED
The city of Santiago was meant to
be celebrating the yearly festival of
St. James on July 25, with thousands
of Christian pilgrims arriving after
walking the famous Camino de
Santiago ancient pilgrimage trail.
A week of concerts and other
cultural events were cancelled
after the train crash on the eve of
the festival. On Sunday, black
ribbons of mourning hung on the
empty stages that had been set up.
Pilgrims, many of them fresh off the
trail and carrying backpacks,
crammed into a standing-room-
only Mass in Santiago's centuries-
old cathedral where they were
asked to remember the victims of
the accident.
At the cathedral gates, along with
flowers and candles
commemorating the dead, some
people left walking sticks from
their journeys and others placed
shells, the symbol of St. James and
badge of honour for the pilgrims
who complete the journey.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who
visited the crash site after the
tragedy, is due to return on
Monday to Santiago, the city where
he was born, for an official funeral
ceremony for the victims.
Dolores Mato, 57, a shopkeeper who
works close to the ancient
cathedral, expressed sympathy and
grief for the victims and their
families, but also for Garzon, who
she said had been "crucified" in the
media. (Writing by Elisabeth
O'Leary; Editing by Fiona Ortiz,
Peter Graff, Sonya Hepinstall and
Stacey Joyce)