URDA, Spain — Spanish authorities said late on Sunday that all but three of the 69 people killed in last week's high-speed train collision near Urda have now been identified, as the official identification body confirmed the latest group of foreign victims, The Guardian reported. The body, made up of police officers and forensic specialists, announced the 10 latest confirmed foreign victims in a statement late on Sunday.

Source: The Guardian, Nov 2

The confirmed dead include 54 Spanish citizens and four citizens of the United States, alongside one citizen each from Canada, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia and the Czech Republic, the authorities said. The deaths of a French citizen and a Portuguese citizen had already been confirmed earlier.

69people killed in the Urda collision
66victims now identified
54Spanish citizens among the dead
4US citizens among the dead

Three reports for missing people remain active, concerning two Australian citizens and one Japanese citizen, the authorities said. Judicial and forensic teams have identified the 66 victims using fingerprints and DNA, and notifications to families are continuing, with the remaining cases mostly involving foreign nationals whose families must travel to Spain or send DNA samples, Particle News reported.

Source: Particle News, Nov 2

This identification announcement is the latest development after the crash Awaaz Punjab has reported since Wednesday: a service run by state operator Renfe ploughed into the back of a stationary train belonging to the company Iryo outside the village of Urda, around 130 km (80 miles) south of Madrid, on the Madrid–Seville line. The official toll reached 69 on October 29, and a first incident report by infrastructure body Adif later found that as many as four systems had failed before the collision. A formal criminal investigation is open into why the Renfe train was allowed to proceed while the Iryo train was stationary, Particle News reported.

Read the earlier Adif report story here: Four systems failed before Spain's Urda train crash killed 69, Adif report finds

The disaster was Spain's second high-speed train collision this year, after a crash in the southern region of Andalusia in January killed 46 people, The Guardian reported — which is why the identification work, and the investigation that follows it, are being watched closely well beyond Spain.