Originally published on July 31, 2013
The driver of the deadly train crash in Spain last week was on the phone when the train derailed, evidence from the data black box revealed on Tuesday. Crash investigators extracted information from the data-recording device and also confirmed that the train had been travelling well beyond speed limits, reports said.
A recording indicates that the 52-year-old driver, Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, spoke with staff members at Renfe, the state-owned train company, who gave him assistance in determining his location. The sounds of rustling paper heard in the background of the call suggest that the driver consulted some kind of document, perhaps a map.
Garzon admitted in a closed-door hearing that he knew he had taken the fatal curve at too much speed and blamed the mistake on a momentary lapse of concentration, reports said.
Minutes before the crash, the train had been travelling at 192 kilometers per hour, according to information in the black box. Just before the collision, the brakes were activated, but the train entered the curve at 153 kilometers per hour, black box data confirmed. The speed limit in that stretch of train track is 80 kilometers per hour.
Garzon had been suspected of 79 counts of negligent homicide; those charges were formally made against him on Sunday, according to NPR. Garzon is under court supervision and his passport has been surrendered to the judge.
The crash, which killed 79 people and injured nearly 100, many of whom were children, took place near the religious pilgrimage site of Santiago de Compostela, in northwestern Spain.
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