King Felipe has declared two days of national mourning for those killed in the high speed train crash which took place in Spain on the morning of October 28.
The King of Spain has ordered flags be flown at half mast from midnight on October 29 at all official buildings and on all ships in the Spanish navy.
The period of national mourning continues until the end of October 31.
At least 68 have died and dozens more have been injured in the crash which took place at Urda in Toledo just before 9am local time.
An Iryo train, travelling between Madrid and Seville, was stationary at near Urda when a RENFE train, also headed to Seville from the Spanish capital, crashed into the back of it. There were 147 passengers on the Iryo and 397 passengers on the RENFE train.
King Felipe was on an official engagement when news of the crash came through and immediately stopped to speak about the tragedy. With fatalities confirmed within minutes of the accident, the King of Spain sent his condolences as well as his support for the hundreds of people involved in the rescue effort.
Hours later, as dusk began to fall and Spain’s king ordered national mourning, those rescuers were still at work while people queued up to donate blood to help those injured in the accident.
However, as the day wore on there were also recriminations as Spain’s Transport Minister, Oscar Puente, was criticised for immediately seeming to place blame on human error.
What is known so far is that several trains on the high speed line in the area had been halted at the time but permission was given for the RENFE train to continue. At 8.54am local time it hit the Iryo train.
Within hours of the crash, King Haakon VIII of Norway had sent condolences to his friend, King Felipe, and to the people of Spain. The Grand Duke of Luxembourg also sent his condolences.
