Spanish Transport Minister Resigns Six Days After Train Disaster That Killed 69

Spain's Minister of Transport has stepped down six days after a train collision disaster that killed 69 people, the BBC reported on the 3rd (local time).

Transport Minister Óscar Puente expressed his intention to resign at parliament on this day after reporting on the recent train collision incident and future railway safety reinforcement measures.

Puente said, "The Minister of Transport in a country like Spain cannot remain in office after such a serious accident has occurred twice in less than a year."

This signifies that he feels fully responsible for a similar incident happening again just nine months after an accident in January that killed 46 people on the same rail route.

He also stated, "I am not only stepping down from my ministerial post, but I will also remove my name from the list of candidates for the early general election."

The accident occurred on the 28th of last month when a moving train on the southbound high-speed railway line connecting the Spanish capital of Madrid and the southern region of Andalusia rear-ended a stationary train, leaving 69 dead and over 100 injured.

In Spain, which boasts Europe's largest high-speed rail network spanning about 4,000 kilometers, developing-country-style railway accidents continue to occur without interruption, prompting ongoing criticism that there may be structural problems in railway operation and safety management.

In 2013, a high-speed train accident near Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain killed 80 people and injured 145.

Following this accident, the Spanish political sphere, including opposition parties and even some ruling party supporters, had been demanding Puente's resignation.

The opposition parties claimed that Puente was evading responsibility by blaming the accident on human error.

Puente emphasized on this day that his decision was based on "political dignity."

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez supported Puente's decision, stating, "To maintain dignity. By his own will. Out of respect for the victims."

The BBC reported that the accident occurred ahead of Spain's general election on the 29th, and forecasted that Prime Minister Sánchez's plan to stage a dramatic turnaround through an early general election will suffer a major blow due to the repeated disasters.

It further projected that it would become impossible for Sánchez's ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) to overturn polling results and win the election.

(Photo: Getty Images)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.