Transportation Minister Óscar Puente resigned today in the wake of the train accident in Spain that claimed the lives of 69 people.
“A transportation minister in a country like Spain cannot remain in office after two accidents in less than a year,” the minister said during a hearing in the Spanish parliament.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
According to El País, during a tense and heated debate in parliament, Puente recalled that his government had launched a 780-million-euro modernization plan and reiterated his doubts about the Adif control center’s decision to allow the AVE high-speed train involved in the Urda (Toledo) accident to resume normal operations, despite the failure of the LZB safety system, given that an Iryo train had stopped on the track shortly thereafter.
Earlier, Esther Muñoz of the People’s Party (PP) had challenged the minister, stating that his responsibility “is not to explain fatal accidents” but to prevent them.
The Sumar party had also called for his resignation, although it clarified that it does not hold him responsible for the accident.
The accident has claimed the lives of 69 people and left approximately 200 injured, 40 of whom remain hospitalized.
According to the team of police officers and medical examiners tasked with identifying the victims, 54 Spanish nationals and 15 foreign nationals lost their lives in the accident.
Source: cnn.gr
