text: SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain The driver of a Spanish train that derailed, killing at least 80 people, was under police guard in hospital on Thursday after the dramatic accident which an official source said was caused by excessive speed. 
   
   The eight-carriage train came off the tracks, hit a wall and caught fire just outside the pilgrimage destination Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night. It was one of Europe's worst rail disasters. 
   
   The source had knowledge of the official investigation into a crash which brought misery to Santiago on Thursday, the day when it should have celebrated one of Europe's biggest Christian festivals. Authorities canceled festivities as the city went into mourning. 
   
   The Galicia regional supreme court said in a statement the judge investigating the accident had ordered police to take a statement from the driver. 
   
   He was being formally investigated and under police guard but not under arrest, the court said. He was in hospital but it was not clear what kind of injuries he had suffered. 
   
   Video footage from a security camera showed the train, with 247 people on board, hurtling into a concrete wall at the side of the track as carriages jack-knifed and the engine overturned. 
   
   One local official described the aftermath of the crash as like a scene from hell, with bodies strewn next to the tracks. 
   
   The impact was so huge one carriage flew several meters into the air and landed on the other side of a high concrete barrier. 
   
   Around 94 people were injured, 35 of them, including four children, in a serious condition, the deputy head of the regional government said. 
   
   "We heard a massive noise and we went down the tracks. I helped get a few injured and bodies out of the train. I went into one of the cars but I'd rather not tell you what I saw there," Ricardo Martinez, a 47-year old baker from Santiago de Compostela, told Reuters. 
   
   Newspaper accounts cited witnesses as saying the driver, Francisco Jose Garzon, who had helped rescue victims, shouted into a phone: "I've derailed! What do I do?". 
   
   The 52-year-old had been a train driver for 30 years, said a spokeswoman for Renfe, the state train company. 
   
   A court source told Reuters there was one driver on the train. Previously, a Galicia government source had said there were two. 
   
   TRAIN HIT BEND AT SPEED 
   
   El Pais newspaper said the driver told the railway station by radio after being trapped in his cabin that the train entered the bend at 190 kilometers per hour (120 mph). An official source said the speed limit on that stretch of twin track, laid in 2011, was 80 kph. 
   
   "We're only human! We're only human!" the driver told the station, the newspaper said, citing sources close to the investigation. "I hope there are no dead, because this will weigh on my conscience." 
   
   Investigators were trying to find out why the train was going so fast and why security devices to keep speed within permitted limits had not slowed the train. 
   
   Operated by state-owned company Renfe, the train was built by Bombardier and Talgo and was around five years old. It had almost the maximum number of passengers. 
   
   Spain's rail safety record is better than the European average, ranking 18th out of 27 countries in terms of railway deaths per kilometers traveled, the European Railway Agency said. There were 218 train accidents in Spain between 2008-2011, well below the EU average of 426 for the same period. 
   
   Firefighters called off a strike to help with the disaster, while hospital staff, many operating on reduced salaries because of spending cuts in recession-hit Spain, worked overtime to tend the injured. 
   
   The disaster happened at 8.41 p.m. (2:41 p.m. ET) on the eve of a festival dedicated to St. James, one of Jesus's 12 disciples, whose remains are said to rest in Santiago's centuries-old cathedral. 
   
   The apostle's shrine is the destination of the famous El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage across the Pyrenees, which has been followed by Christians since the Middle Ages. 
   
   "The main mass (in the cathedral) was transformed from a mass of joy into a mass of mourning," said Italian pilgrim Irene Valsangiacomo. 
   
   KING, PM VISIT 
   
   One U.S. citizen died in the crash and five were injured, the State Department said in Washington. Mexico said one of its nationals was among the dead. 
   
   At least one British citizen was injured, a British embassy spokesman said. People from several other countries were believed to be among the passengers. 
   
   People living nearby ran to the site to help emergency workers tend to the wounded. Ana Taboada, a 29-year-old hospital worker, was one of the first on the scene. 
   
   "When the dust lifted I saw corpses. I didn't make it down to the track, because I was helping the passengers that were coming up the embankment," she told Reuters. "I saw a man trying to break a window with a stone to help those inside get out." 
   
   Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was born in Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Galicia region, visited the site and the main hospital on Thursday. He declared three days of official national mourning for the victims of the disaster. 
   
   King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia also went to Santiago and visited the injured in hospital. 
   
   "All of Spain is united in grief with the bereaved families," the king said. 
   
   Both Renfe and state-owned Adif, which is in charge of the tracks, opened an investigation into the derailment. 
   
   Passenger Ricardo Montesco told Cadena Ser radio station the train approached the curve at high speed, twisted and the carriages piled up one on top of the other. 
   
   "A lot of people were squashed on the bottom. We tried to squeeze out of the bottom of the wagons to get out and we realized the train was burning. ... I was in the second carriage and there was fire. ... I saw corpses," he said. 
   
   Clinics in Santiago de Compostela were overwhelmed with people flocking to give blood, while hotels organized free rooms for relatives. Madrid sent forensic scientists and hospital staff to the scene on special flights. 
   
   Allianz Seguros, owned by Germany's Allianz, owns the insurance contract for loss suffered by Renfe passengers, a company spokeswoman told Reuters. The contract does not cover Renfe's trains. The company had sent experts to the scene. 
   
   The disaster stirred memories of a train bombing in Madrid in 2004, carried out by Islamist militants, that killed 191 people, although officials do not suspect an attack this time. 
   
   Spain is struggling to emerge from a long-running recession marked by government-driven austerity to bring its deeply indebted finances into order. 
   
   But Adif, the state railways infrastructure company, told Reuters no budget cuts had been implemented on maintenance of the line, which connects La Coruna, Santiago de Compostela and Ourense and was inaugurated in 2011. 
   
   It said more than 100 million euros a year were being spent on track maintenance in Spain. 
   
   (Additional reporting by Inmaculada Sanz, Sonya Dowsett, Sarah White, Andres Gonzalez, Blanca Rodriguez, Julien Toyer, Emma Pinedo, Raquel Castillo, Robert Hetz; Writing by Sonya Dowsett and Julien Toyer and Elisabeth O'Leary,; editing by Barry Moody and Andrew Heavens) ||||| Death toll rises to 80, including one American. Train driver who boasted about speeding is under investigation after video shows dramatic derailment. 
   
   Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a train derailment in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on July 24. A train derailed in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night, killing dozens. (Photo: Antonio Hernandez, El correo Gallego/AP) Story Highlights Train from Madrid may have been traveling 89 to 119 mph in 50-mph zone 
   
   All eight carriages left tracks, and four overturned 
   
   Accident happened in Santiago de Compostela in the Galicia region 
   
   The train that derailed on a curve Wednesday night in northwestern Spain may have been traveling at more than twice the speed limit, media outlets reported Thursday. 
   
   The veteran driver, who was injured, is being formally investigated amid reports that he had bragged on Facebook about routinely speeding. Officials said he did not test positive for alcohol or drugs. 
   
   Authorities and rail experts cautioned that speed-control systems might also have failed. 
   
   The Associated Press analyzed video of the crash and said the train was going between 89 mph and 119 mph on the stretch of track that has a limit of about 50 mph. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo also reported that the train may have approached speeds of up to 119 mph before it flew off the tracks and smashed into a retaining wall. 
   
   The U.S. State Department said that one American was among the 80 who died. 
   
   The Galician government said 94 others remained hospitalized, with 31, including four children, in critical condition. Five Americans were among the injured, the State Department said, without releasing details. 
   
   The Reuters news agency reported that the driver, Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, is in police custody in the hospital, where he is being treated for unspecified injuries. He took over the controls from another driver about 65 miles before the crash, said the state railway, Renfe. 
   
   Garzon, 52, has worked for Renfe for 30 years. He became an assistant driver in 2000 and a fully qualified driver in 2003. 
   
   He enjoyed going fast. 
   
   The New York Times reported that until it was deleted Thursday morning, Garzon's Facebook page "included a photograph and exchanges that portrayed a taste for speed, and perhaps even recklessness." 
   
   A March 2012 photo showed a speedometer topped out at 124 mph. "I'm at the limit and I can't go any faster or they will give me a fine," he wrote. 
   
   Responding to a friend's quip about speeding, the Times said, Garzon wrote in all caps: "Imagine what a rush it would be traveling alongside the Civil Guard, and passing them so that their speed traps go off. Hehe, that would be quite a fine for Renfe, hehe." 
   
   Garzon had worked the Madrid-to-Ferrol run for more than a year, Renfe said. His express train Wednesday was carrying 218 passengers when it left the tracks at 8:41 p.m. local time (2:41 p.m. ET) about 2.5 miles from the station at Santiago de Compostela. The train carried five crewmembers. 
   
   One driver who was trapped radioed the rail station that the train was traveling 120 mph when it entered the bend, sources told the Spanish newspaper El Pais. 
   
   "We're only human! We're only human!" the driver reportedly said. "I hope there are no dead, because this will fall on my conscience." 
   
   All eight carriages derailed, and four overturned. TV images showed one car torn apart, another on fire and blanket-covered bodies besides the wrecked carriages. 
   
   Hadley Malcolm hosts USA NOW for July 25, 2013, covering the recent train crash in Spain that killed scores of people. USA TODAY, USA NOW, Kaveh Rezaei, 
   
   "A lot of people were squashed on the bottom. We tried to squeeze out of the bottom of the wagons to get out and we realized the train was burning," passenger Ricardo Montesco told radio station Cadena SER. "I was in the second wagon and there was fire. I saw corpses." 
   
   The president of the Galicia region, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, described the scene as "Dante-esque." 
   
   An 18-year Mormon missionary from Utah told the Associated Press he blacked out after the train lifted in the air like a roller coaster. 
   
   Stephen Ward, of Bountiful, found himself caked in blood and heard cries and screams when he came to, thinking it was all a dream. He was discharged Thursday. 
   
   Officials canceled festivities planned for Thursday in Santiago de Compostela to celebrate St James, one of Jesus' 12 apostles whose remains are claimed to buried there. Officials said many of the travelers likely were pilgrims headed to the city, about 60 miles south of Ferrol. 
   
   Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey, who was born in Santiago de Compostola, toured the crash scene Thursday alongside rescue workers and visited the injured and their families at a nearby hospital. He declared three days of official mourning. 
   
   "For a native of Santiago, like me, this is the saddest day," he said. 
   
   King Carlos, the country's head of state, and Queen Sofia also visited the hospital. 
   
   It was Spain's deadliest train accident since 1972, when a train collided with a bus in southwest Spain, killing 86 people and injuring 112. 
   
   Two weeks ago in France, six people died when several cars of a train packed ahead of the Bastille Day holiday in a station outside Paris. Officials blamed a faulty track. 
   
   Contributing: The Associated Press 
   
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   The train company said Thursday that there does not appear to have been a technical fault with the train. 
   
   The train company said Thursday that there does not appear to have been a technical fault with the train. 
   
   Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/17Ff6h4 ||||| Story highlights Survivor says the crash site looked like a scene from hell 
   
   Victim: "Suddenly there was a curve, the suitcases fell and everything went dark" 
   
   Death toll at 80, spokeswoman for Spanish government in Galicia region tells CNN 
   
   Crash may be linked to train going too fast, transport minister tells radio station 
   
   The train races into view, and in the space of a heartbeat, the cars derail and crash into a wall of concrete, flipping onto their sides and skidding along the track with terrifying speed and force. 
   
   Security footage shows the horror of the moment an express train derailed as it hurtled around a curve in northwestern Spain on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the Spanish government in the Galicia region, speaking on routine condition of anonymity, confirmed 80 people have died in the crash. 
   
   A woman from Arlington, Virginia, is among the dead. And at least five other U.S. citizens were injured, Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. 
   
   Flames burst out of one train car as another car was snapped in half after the crash. Rescue crews and fellow passengers pulled bodies through broken windows and pried open doors as stunned survivors looked on. 
   
   Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Wreckage of the front locomotive of a derailed train stands on the road while workers repair the railway on Sunday, July 28, in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. A spokeswoman for the Galician regional government said that at least 79 people were confirmed dead in the train crash. It occurred on the eve of a public holiday, when more people than usual may have been traveling in the region. Hide Caption 1 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Train driver Francisco Jose Garzon is taken from a police station to the Preliminary Court in Santiago de Compostela on July 28. Hide Caption 2 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, second from left, and Galicia's regional President Alberto Nunez Feijoo, right, visit the site of the derailment on Friday, July 26. Hide Caption 3 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Injured people are evacuated at the site of the July 24 train accident. The driver of the train is being held, Spanish police said July 26. Hide Caption 4 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – A train car is lifted Thursday, July 25, at Angrois near Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The train derailed as it hurtled around a curve at high speed on Wednesday, July 24. Hide Caption 5 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Emergency personnel work at the crash scene July 25. An investigation into the cause of the derailment is under way. Hide Caption 6 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, center, visits the crash site July 25 with Public Works Minister Ana Pastor, right, and Alberto Nunez Feijoo, head of the regional government in Galicia. The latter declared seven days of mourning for victims of the crash. 
   
   Hide Caption 7 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – A relative of one of the passengers waits to hear news in Santiago de Compostela on July 25. Hide Caption 8 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Other relatives of passengers wait for information in Santiago de Compostela on July 25. Hide Caption 9 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Rescue workers inspect a carriage in the wreckage July 25. Hide Caption 10 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – A general view of the derailment in northwestern Spain on July 25. Hide Caption 11 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Emergency workers at the derailment scene July 25. Hide Caption 12 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Emergency personnel evacuate a man at the scene July 25. Hide Caption 13 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Emergency workers help passengers July 25. Hide Caption 14 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Women wait for news about crash victims in Santiago de Compostela on July 25. Hide Caption 15 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Teams at the crash site July 25 expect to find more bodies, an official says. Hide Caption 16 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – The train was on its way from Madrid to the town of Ferrol with more than 200 passengers aboard. Hide Caption 17 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Train driver Francisco Jose Garzon, identified by Spanish newspapers El Pais and El Mundo, is helped from the scene by a police officer. Hide Caption 18 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – The state railway company said the train derailed on a curve as it was approaching the train station in Santiago de Compostela. Hide Caption 19 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Emergency workers climb on top of the wreckage as they help free injured passengers from the crash. Hide Caption 20 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – While it was unclear how fast the train was going at the time of the crash, it was capable of reaching up to 155 mph. Hide Caption 21 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Rescuers work to pull victims from the derailed cars. Hide Caption 22 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – One person at the scene said he saw several passengers and witnesses helping get people out of the mangled cars. Hide Caption 23 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Rescuers work to clear a derailed car. Hide Caption 24 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – "The efforts now center on searching for bodies and victims that could still be alive in the wreckage of the cars," journalist Ignacio Carballo from the Voz de Galicia newspaper told CNN en Español. Hide Caption 25 of 26 Photos: Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain Deadly train crash in Spain – Officials said blood donations were needed as a result of the crash. Hide Caption 26 of 26 
   
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   Investigations into the cause of the crash continue, but suggestions that the train was traveling too fast appear to be gaining weight. 
   
   The train driver is being questioned by police and is under formal investigation, said Maria Pardo Rios, a spokeswoman for the Galicia regional supreme court. "He is not being charged by a judge at the moment -- it is all at a police level," she said. 
   
   Of the scores of people injured in the crash, 95 remained hospitalized Thursday, officials said. Thirty-two adults were in critical condition. 
   
   Most of the deaths happened at the scene, Rios said. In Spain, judges typically record deaths that take place outside of hospitals. 
   
   Judicial teams are still at the crash site and expect to find more bodies, she told CNN on Thursday morning. 
   
   Interim charge d'affaires Luis G. Moreno at the embassy said it was in touch "with families of some injured American citizens." 
   
   "We are deeply shocked by the news of last night's train crash in Galicia. Our hearts and prayers are with the friends and families of the victims," he said Thursday. 
   
   UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said one British citizen was injured. 
   
   The crash came on the eve of a public holiday held to mark the region's saint's day. Local officials canceled festivities planned for Wednesday night and Thursday across Galicia. 
   
   Train's speed questioned 
   
   The state railway, Renfe, said the train crashed on a curve several kilometers from the train station in the city of Santiago de Compostela, a popular tourist destination. 
   
   The train was nearing the end of a six-hour trip from Madrid to the town of Ferrol in northwest Spain when it derailed at 8:41 p.m. Wednesday, the railway said. 
   
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   It was unclear how fast the train was traveling when it crashed. It was capable of going up to 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph), said Julio Hermida, a spokesman for the state railway. 
   
   The driver, who suffered minor injuries, told police the train had entered the bend too fast, TVE reported. 
   
   The driver has worked for the company for the last 30 years, a spokesman for the railway confirmed to CNN. In 2000, the driver started working as a train driver assistant, and in 2003 began working as a train driver, a job the driver has held since. 
   
   Rafael Catala, secretary of state for transport and housing, told Spanish radio network Cadena SER that the "tragedy appears to be linked to the train going too fast," but that the reasons for that are not yet known. 
   
   Spanish news agency Efe and national daily El Pais cited sources within the investigation as saying that the driver had said the train was going at about 190 kilometers per hour, and that the limit on that curve was 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph.) 
   
   The president of Renfe, Julio Gomez-Pomar, told radio station COPE on Thursday that the train had undergone a routine inspection that same morning. 
   
   "The train did not have an operating problem," he said. "The maintenance and control record of the train was perfect." 
   
   Mourning declared 
   
   Spain's King Juan Carlos visited a hospital in Santiago de Compostela where victims injured in Wednesday's train accident are recovering. 
   
   "All Spaniards, we are united at this time. ... Really all Spaniards join in the pain of the families of the dead," he said. "We hope that the wounded will recover, little by little." 
   
   The royal family canceled all events scheduled for the day out of respect for the day of mourning, the royal household told CNN. 
   
   Alberto Nunez Feijoo, head of the regional government in Galicia, declared seven days of mourning in the region for victims of the tragedy. 
   
   In a speech, he said "all of the community cries about the tragedy that we are living, we cry for the victims, we cry for the unease and sadness of the families." 
   
   Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy viewed the scene of devastation Thursday morning and visited some of the hospitalized crash victims. 
   
   Rajoy, who is from the area, told a news conference there was a "huge challenge" ahead, not least in identifying all those killed and informing their families, and he praised the response of everyone who has helped after the crash. 
   
   Two investigations are under way, he said, adding, "We want to establish what happened." 
   
   Rajoy declared three days of national mourning to honor the victims of the crash. 
   
   The prime minister came under fire in Spanish media after a condolences message for the train crash victims posted by his office late Wednesday included a paragraph apparently "copied and pasted" from a statement previously sent to victims of an earthquake in Gansu, China. 
   
   ''I would like to express my deepest condolences for the loss of human lives and the material damage from the earthquake that has occurred in Gansu has caused," the note said. 
   
   Victim: 'Everything went dark' 
   
   One victim, speaking from a hospital bed with his arm in a sling, told CNN affiliate Atlas that it seemed like train was going fast. 
   
   "But we didn't know what was the maximum speed, so I thought it was normal," he said, "And suddenly there was a curve, the suitcases fell, and everything went dark. And I hit my head a ton of times, and 10 seconds later I was wedged between seats, and I had people's legs on top of me." 
   
   As he waited for rescuers to pull him from the wreckage, he heard other passengers yelling. 
   
   "I heard little children screaming. ... I also heard two girls that yelled out, one supporting the other," he said. 
   
   Rescuers came through it and helped the 18-year-old from Bountiful, Utah, get out. 
   
   He waited for hours while victims with more serious injuries were taken to the hospital. As he watched rescue crews carry the dead and wounded, he cried and sang church hymns to calm himself down. 
   
   A photo taken at the scene shows him leaning on a police officer as he walked beside the tracks, with blood oozing down his face and splattered on his crisp, white shirt. 
   
   The Mormon missionary walked past dead bodies on the ground. He told London's Daily Telegraph that it looked like a scene from hell. 
   
   U.S. citizen among those killed 
   
   When the train crashed, Ana-Maria Cordoba was on the way with her husband and their daughter to visit her son, who had been on a pilgrimage in Spain, the Catholic Diocese of Arlington told CNN. 
   
   Cordoba, who worked for the diocese, was killed, spokesman Michael Donahue said. 
   
   Her husband and daughter are hospitalized in stable condition, the diocese said. 
   
   Crash investigation 
   
   Investigators are looking at all possible causes of the crash, a senior aide to the prime minister said Wednesday. 
   
   Renfe's spokesman said he did not know how many crew members were aboard the train when it crashed. Normally, there would be at least five crew members on a train like that, he said. 
   
   Officials appealed for blood donations just after the crash but on Thursday said the short-term needs were met. 
   
   Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, expressed condolences from the European Union. 
   
   Pope Francis, who is on a visit to Brazil for World Youth Day, sent a telegram to the bishop of Santiago de Compostela, Julian Barrio Barrio, offering his support and prayers for all those affected by the tragedy. ||||| A passenger train derailed in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night, killing at least 35 people and leaving hundreds injured, officials said. 
   
   Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a train derailment in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. A train derailed in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night, toppling passenger... (Associated Press) 
   
   Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a train derailment in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. A train derailed in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night, toppling passenger... (Associated Press) 
   
   A woman is evacuated by emergency personnel at the scene of a train derailment in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. A train derailed in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night,... (Associated Press) 
   
   Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a train derailment in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. A train derailed in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night, toppling passenger... (Associated Press) 
   
   Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a train derailment in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. A train derailed in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night, toppling passenger... (Associated Press) 
   
   Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a train derailment in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. A train derailed in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night, toppling passenger... (Associated Press) 
   
   Alberto Nunez Feijoo, president of the region of Galicia, said at least 35 people aboard the train were killed. 
   
   State-owned train operator Renfe said in a statement that 218 passengers and an unspecified number of staff were on board at the time of the accident. Renfe did not give an estimate of the numbers of dead or injured. 
   
   Feast day festivities planned in the city of Santiago de Compostela were cancelled, town hall spokeswoman Maria Pardo told Spanish National television TVE. 
   
   A photographer at the scene said he saw dozens of what appeared to be dead bodies being extracted from the wreck by emergency workers. TVE showed footage of what appeared to be several bodies covered by blankets alongside the tracks next to the damaged train wagons. 
   
   The photographer, Xabier Martinez, told The Associated Press that he also spoke to two injured train passengers who said they felt a strong vibration before the derailing. 
   
   The accident occurred along a high-speed stretch of track near the train station in Santiago de Compostola, 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of El Ferrol. Rescue workers were seen in the television images caring for people still inside some of the wagons. 
   
   Television footage also showed one wagon pointing upwards into the air with one of its ends twisted and disfigured. Another carriage had left the track altogether and could be seen resting on a nearby road. 
   
   The train, which belongs to the state-owned Renfe company, was headed to El Ferrol from Madrid. 
   
   Officials at the Interior Ministry and the Adif rail infrastructure authority did not immediately answer telephone calls or return messages seeking comment. Officials with Renfe also did not immediately return messages seeking comment. ||||| SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain — The train driver did little to hide his taste for speed. He posted a photograph of a locomotive speedometer needle stuck at 200 kilometers, or about 125 miles, per hour on Facebook last year, boasting that the reading “has not been tampered with” and openly relishing the idea of racing past the authorities. 
   
   “Imagine what a rush it would be traveling alongside the Civil Guard, and passing them so that their speed traps go off,” he wrote, in all capitals. “Hehe, that would be quite a fine for Renfe, hehe,” referring to his employer, the Spanish rail company. 
   
   Now that train driver, Francisco José Garzón Amo, a veteran with more than three decades of experience, is under investigation by a judge in connection with one of Europe’s worst rail accidents in recent years. 
   
   In a chilling video from a security camera, the passenger train he was driving rounded a curve at high speed on Wednesday night, tumbling violently off the track, slamming against a curved wall and piling up in a twisted wreck. Eighty people were killed. 
   
   On Thursday, Spanish news media reported that the driver had said the train’s speed had been about 120 miles per hour, more than double the limit in the stretch of track where the train derailed. On the day of the wreck, he took over from another driver just 60 miles before the crash, according to Spanish news reports. 
   
   The train was almost full, carrying more than 200 passengers and merrymakers returning to the region for a special holiday on Thursday. July 25 is the feast day for St. James the Apostle, the patron saint of Spain, who for centuries has inspired pilgrims to walk El Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James. The pilgrimage has had a burst of popularity in recent years, drawing walkers from around the world. 
   
   After the crash, the city of Santiago de Compostela canceled its extensive celebration and the authorities urged people to donate blood. Thousands made a very different kind of pilgrimage to the site of the disaster, watching as rescuers used cranes and trucks to hoist the engines of the wrecked train. All — children, teenagers and older people — stood in funereal silence. 
   
   Nearby, in a building where an information center had been set up, police officers kept the victims’ families from the public eye. Some walked around the building in tears, hugging and comforting one another, while others grew frustrated waiting to see their loved ones. 
   
   “Now, at 9:30 p.m., is when they allowed us to go and see our family member,” said María, a relative of a victim who did not want her full name used. “Twenty-four hours waiting, in these conditions. That’s too much.” 
   
   Most high-speed lines that are part of the European rail traffic system are covered by a GPS-based surveillance network that constantly monitors trains’ speed and automatically brakes them at speed limits. 
   
   Slower trains and trains crossing urban areas in Spain and other countries use a less intrusive system that warns the driver with sound and lights at excessive speeds, but does not automatically brake the train, according to María Carmen Palao, a spokeswoman for Spain’s ADIF rail infrastructure company. 
   
   The accident, she said, took place two to three miles outside the station at Santiago de Compostela, in the “transition zone” between the two systems. The wreck occurred on the Galicia line, run by the rail operator Renfe and opened in 2011. 
   
   The train’s driver survived the accident with light injuries and is under police guard, although he has not been formally arrested. He is “lucid and able to speak,” said Carmen Prieto, a spokeswoman for the Spanish Development Ministry. 
   
   The Spanish newspaper El País reported that people at the train company said that alcohol had not been found in the driver’s system, but the security video showing the train barreling into the turn and abruptly careening off the rails quickly raised concerns that he was traveling too fast. 
   
   Even in his Facebook message, posted in 2012 but removed late Thursday morning, Mr. Garzón elicited some astounded comments from friends. 
   
   “Dude, you’re going full speed, braaaaake,” one commenter wrote. 
   
   “Christ, you’re doing 200km/h,” another said. 
   
   Outpourings of sympathy for Wednesday’s disaster came from all corners, including the White House. “On behalf of the American people, we offer our deepest sympathies and condolences,” President Obama said in a statement. The State Department confirmed Thursday that one American died and five were injured in the accident. 
   
   In a letter to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, said he was “deeply saddened” by the accident. “Such a serious accident, with so many people dead and injured, is a tragedy for Spain and provokes such deep emotions,” he said. 
   
   Mr. Rajoy, who was born in the region, visited the scene and declared three days of official mourning. King Juan Carlos and his wife, Sofía, also rushed to Santiago de Compostela. 
   
   “In the face of a tragedy such as just happened in Santiago de Compostela on the eve of its big day, I can only express my deepest sympathy as a Spaniard and a Galician,” Mr. Rajoy said in a written statement. 
   
   The eight-car train, which left Madrid at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, was traveling to the coast when it derailed around 8:44 p.m., according to the clock on the security video. Witnesses described the destruction as the dead were taken to a temporary morgue. “The road is full of cadavers,” a radio reporter, Xaime López, said on the station Cadena Ser. “It’s striking: you almost can’t even count them.” 
   
   The accident was Spain’s worst train crash since 1972, when 86 people were killed in the southwest of the country.
target: – Another deadly train accident is in the news, this time from Spain. A high-speed train in the country's northwest derailed last night; it was reportedly moving at double the speed limit, and Reuters says the driver is under investigation. Officials say at least 77 people are dead, the New York Times reports. At least 100 more were injured, and 20 are in critical condition, CNN adds. Authorities say the train had about 220 passengers and derailed around 8:40pm local time near the station in the city of Santiago de Compostela, 60 miles south of El Ferrol, the AP notes. An official tells CNN more bodies are expected to be found, and some reports now put the death toll at 78. The train, which belongs to the state-owned Renfe company, was on its way to El Ferrol from Madrid. It was going 110 miles per hour in a zone where the speed limit is 50, sources told Spain's El Pais paper, per the Times. According to CNN, the train driver told police he entered a curve too quickly, and the country's transport secretary confirmed the "tragedy appears to be linked to the train going too fast." The BBC says all 13 cars came off the tracks, and it quotes one passenger who says they seemed to "pile up on one another" at a curve in the tracks. "There are bodies lying on the railway track," says one government official. "It's a Dante-esque scene."