New Recording of Spanish Train Driver in High Speed Crash

Driver leaves the scene of the crash.

A new recording has emerged of a phone call made by a train driver moments after his train derailed in northern Spain, resulting in the deaths of 79 people. Francisco Jose Garzon, who is on-trial for the crash, is heard in a recording obtained by El Pais newspaper admitting he was going too fast at the time of the incident and repeatedly saying "poor passengers". All eight carriages of the train careered off the tracks into a concrete wall as they traveled around a curve on 24 July on the express route between Madrid and the port city of Ferrol. In the El Pais obtained tape - which is of the phone call Mr Garzon made to activate the emergency protocol - the driver says: "There must be many injured, [the train] has turned over, I can't get out of the cabin." He added: "I got distracted and I [was supposed] to be going at 80, but I was going at 190". Fransisco Jose Garzon also said that the track was dangerous, telling his colleague on the phone: "I had already mentioned to the safety people that this [curve] is dangerous, that one day something like this could happen".