Alyssa Mcmurtry
02 November 2026•Update: 02 November 2026
Spanish authorities have identified 66 of the 69 people killed in last week’s high-speed train crash near Urda in central Spain, the regional high court said Monday.
Families have been notified in 60 cases involving 36 men and 24 women, according to a Sunday night update from the center coordinating the identification effort.
Of the 66 victims identified, 54 were Spanish and four were US citizens. The remaining eight came from Argentina, Canada, Czechia, France, Japan, Mexico, Portugal and Tunisia, one from each country.
Three missing-person reports remain open involving two Australians and a Japanese national.
Among the victims were Fatima Banez, who served as Spain’s labor minister under former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and Marisa Manchado, an award-winning Spanish composer who was traveling to Seville for a university event.
Antonio Acedo, the 36-year-old driver of the Renfe train, and his assistant Daniel Cabanas were also killed.
Another victim was Julieta Gallego, a 24-year-old long jumper, broadcaster Cadena SER reported.
More than 60 specialists have worked in Toledo since Wednesday to carry out autopsies and identify the dead using fingerprints and DNA.
– Investigation into collision
The crash occurred Wednesday when a Renfe high-speed train struck the rear of a stationary Iryo train near the town of Urda in Toledo province. Transport Minister Oscar Puente said a failure in the automatic train protection system had brought trains to a halt before a controller authorized the Renfe train to resume normal speed.
In January, another accident on the same high-speed train route, connecting Madrid to Seville, killed 46 people.
Speaking at the World in Progress forum on Monday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said independent investigators and the courts would have the resources they needed to establish what happened.
“Our main obligation as the government of Spain is to restore the public’s shattered confidence in high-speed rail as soon as possible, whatever it takes,” he said.