Authorities said four Americans and one Canadian were among the 69 people killed in last week’s high-speed train collision in Spain.
Sixty-six victims have been identified so far, including 54 Spanish nationals, officials said.
The crash occurred last Wednesday when one high-speed train struck the rear of another train that had stopped on the tracks.
Spain’s rail infrastructure operator ADIF said the collision happened in the province of Toledo.
More than 500 passengers were aboard the two trains, which were traveling in the same direction from Madrid to Seville in southwestern Spain.
The stopped train was operated by private company IRYO, while the approaching train belonged to state-owned RENFE.
Massive cranes lift a wrecked carriage after the deadly collision between a Renfe AVE train and an Iryo train in Urda, in Toledo province
The high-speed train crash south of Madrid killed 69 people and injured scores more, making it one of Europe’s deadliest rail disasters this century
Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the crash followed an “inexplicable” order issued by the country’s central train control centre
The impact derailed two carriages at the back of the IRYO train and the front of the RENFE service.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente attributed the collision to what he called an “inexplicable” instruction from Spain’s central rail control centre after a safety system failed. He said the train drivers were not responsible.
Puente said the train should never have been cleared to move because a “stop signal” remained active on the line. At a minimum, he said, it should have been ordered to travel at a reduced speed.
Other identified foreign victims included nationals from France, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Portugal, Tunisia and the Czech Republic.
Three bodies have yet to be identified, while three people remain listed as missing: two Australians and one Japanese national.
Two American college students sustained devastating injuries in the crash. One needed a ventilator, while the other was unable to eat or drink without assistance.
Austin Hartman, a Cal Poly business student from Bellingham, Washington, suffered multiple fractures and severe injuries, requiring a ventilator to help him breathe for 24 hours
Leah Silver-Fajardo, 21, a neuropsychology student from Seattle, suffered a shattered knee, broken pelvis, fractured ribs and bruised lungs in the devastating collision
Austin Hartman and Leah Silver-Fajardo, both juniors at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, had been studying abroad in Europe when the disaster abruptly changed their lives.
Hartman, a business student from Bellingham, Washington, was traveling to Seville on a day trip with another Cal Poly student when the trains collided on October 28.
He sustained fractures to his pelvis, hip, femur, upper arm, ribs and lower spine, as well as extensive cuts across his face and body.
The injuries were so severe that complications with his breathing and circulation required him to be placed on a ventilator for 24 hours.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Christine Lee Autopsy & Death Photo: How Did She Die? Crime Scene Pictures Revealed – NewsFinale
Hartman now faces multiple surgeries and is not expected to return to the United States for at least two months.
‘Austin went from enthusiastically and joyfully living a dream abroad to being confined to a hospital bed and facing an extensive recovery,’ his GoFundMe page states.
Silver-Fajardo, 21, from Seattle, had been studying neuropsychology in Florence, Italy, and had celebrated her birthday with family and friends just three weeks before the disaster.
She suffered a broken knee and pelvis, multiple broken ribs, bruised lungs and burns and scrapes across her body.
Hartman was enjoying a study-abroad trip to Seville when disaster struck and now faces multiple surgeries and at least two months in Spain before returning home
Silver-Fajardo’s family endured an agonizing search after initially not knowing whether she had survived. She faces months of rehabilitation after being left unable to eat or drink without help
Although she has undergone knee surgery and been moved out of intensive care, she faces another operation to repair her pelvis and months of rehabilitation.
In a Monday update on her GoFundMe page, her mother revealed that Leah ‘is completely immobilized’ and requires help eating and drinking.
Her family also described the terrifying hours after the crash when her parents, Nicole and Sergio, were contacted by the US Embassy but initially did not know whether their daughter had survived or where she had been taken.
Friends searched hospitals across the area until they finally located her.
Her parents and sister Hannah have since traveled to Spain to remain at her bedside.
‘Now, instead of attending classes, exploring new cities, and enjoying life with her friends, Leah is lying in a hospital bed in Spain, recovering from devastating injuries sustained in a tragic train crash that claimed so many lives,’ her aunt Rachel Chernin wrote.
The crash took place last Wednesday when one high-speed train slammed into the back of another that had stopped on the tracks
The collisions have shaken confidence in the Spanish rail network that had long been hailed for its speed and safety
Emergency responders work on the site in the aftermath of the collision in which high-speed trains crashed between the towns of Mora and Orgaz, near Toledo, Spain, last week
The crash in the province of Toledo came just nine months after another collision farther south on the same Madrid-Seville line killed 46 people.
The collisions have shaken confidence in the Spanish rail network that had long been hailed for its speed and safety.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has pledged an investigation and improvements to restore trust in the system that carried some 45 million travelers last year, including millions of tourists.
The crash happened one month before a November 29 general election in which Sánchez is seeking to extend his eight-year premiership.
He is now facing questions about the safety of the railways and investments under his governments in Spanish infrastructure.