A Spanish train conductor is facing 79 counts of homicide .
Francisco José Garzon , 52, was driving the train that derailed last week in Spain. Seventy nine people were killed in the wreck and another 130 were injured. Garzon has been provisionally charged with 79 counts of reckless homicide but an investigation is still ongoing into the crash.
Garzon reportedly told officials that he thought that he was on a different stretch of track. When he realized where he was it was too late for him to slow down.
The train should have been traveling at about 50 mph when it hit the curve. The president of Spanish rail network administrator ADIF said that Garzon should have started applying the breaks to the train, which was traveling at about 118 mph, about 2.5 miles before the point of the accident.
Garzon reportedly missed his brake mark causing the train to derail.
Authorities are investigating the accident to see if there was any sort of mechanical failure that may have caused the crash.
The police have already recovered the train’s black box and have been able to examine some of the audio.
At one point, Garzon can be heard saying : “Poor travelers… I hope there are no dead because they will fall on my conscience.”
Garzon has been a train conductor for more than 30 years but he has only been working the route between Madrid and Ferrol for about a year. Garzon’s passport has been revoked and he is expected to appear in court on a weekly basis throughout the investigation.
