MADRID, July 29 (RIA Novosti) - The driver of a Spanish train that crashed last week, killing at least 79 people, was charged with 79 counts of negligent homicide on Sunday evening, the El Pais newspaper reported.
The driver, Francisco Jose Garzon, was also charged with an undetermined number of counts of causing injury by professional recklessness.
Garzon was taken to court on Sunday afternoon after three days of treatment in hospital under police guard. His testimony lasted about two hours.
The judge granted Garzon conditional release. His train driver's license was suspended for six months. His passport was surrendered and he was obliged to report to court every week, as long as the crash, described as Spain’s worst train incident in 40 years, is being investigated.
The train en route from Madrid to Ferrol carrying 218 passengers derailed on Wednesday at around 8:30 p.m. local time, when it approached a curve at a high speed and one of its cars jumped off the railway forcing the rest of the train to come off the tracks. According to the latest reports, 79 people died and some 140 were injured.
According to information obtained by investigators, the train was moving at the speed of 190 kilometers per hour (118 miles per hour), while the permitted speed limit at that turn was 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour).
