Puente will not resign and assures that he has the full confidence of Sánchez

Madrid / BarcelonaThe Minister of Transport spent two hours this midday answering technical questions about Wednesday's tragic train accident in Toledo which, for the moment, has left 69 dead. Óscar Puente has guaranteed that he is only obsessed with resolving the crisis, that at no time has he thought about the general elections on November 29, and that he has no intention of resigning. "My way of being responsible is by facing the consequences," he stressed. Sources close to the minister explain that he has placed his position at the disposal of Pedro Sánchez and that the Spanish president has asked him to stay because it would be an "unfair" resignation. Immersed in the electoral context, Puente's figure could harm the socialist options and the same sources admit that he will likely not be a visible face during the campaign.

Puente has acknowledged that he will receive "insults, disqualifications, and prejudices of guilt" and that "the easiest thing" in this context would be to step down. In fact, the pressure on the minister is at its peak; if Sánchez said this Thursday that two train accidents in one year are "unacceptable," the calls for his resignation are becoming clearer and clearer, demanding that responsibilities be assumed immediately. This Friday, the candidate of the Broad Front, which governs the State together with the PSOE, even joined in. According to Ada Colau, it is "essential" that Puente steps down "as soon as possible" because there is a need for "not only a technical response, but also a political one."

The polls point invariably to the PP and Vox gaining a majority after November 29, but Alberto Núñez Feijóo considers that Puente and also Sánchez should resign before then. "If they don't resign themselves, we will make them resign at the polls," the leader of the Popular Party expressed; a phrase he has been repeating for months. Feijóo has met in Madrid with a committee of experts that advises the Popular Party on infrastructure issues.

From the first moment, the PP has been harsh against the Spanish government because rail transport "has been poorly managed continuously" and "has forgotten the culture of safety." This Friday, however, it added the express request for the dismissal of the Minister of Transport, whom Feijóo considered a "coward and immoral" for holding the Adif controller who was in contact with the train drivers responsible for the tragedy.

"In these 48 hours I have thought zero about the electoral campaign. I only have time and energy to think about what has happened, about how to clarify it and about how to find solutions to resolve it," insisted Puente in the appearance from Madrid. Vox has already announced a lawsuit against him; Workers' Commissions (CCOO) has requested his dismissal for blaming the Adif controller, and this Thursday UGT announced that it will take to court the leak of the audios between this operator and the drivers of the crashed trains, one of them, the Renfe driver, a fatal victim of the accident, as ARA has learned from trade union sources.

"Broken" trust in high-speed rail

From Toledo, the Spanish president appeared alongside the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, to pledge to clarify the causes of the train tragedy. Sánchez acknowledged that the public's trust in the Spanish high-speed rail system "is broken" and insisted that two train tragedies in the country in the same year are "unacceptable." His executive, he highlighted, is working to provide "solutions".

Death toll

Meanwhile, the rescue efforts for the accident are continuing. García-Page explained that the work "is very advanced," but he was clear: "We do not rule out that there may be more deaths," he also admitted from Toledo. Although the toll of fatalities remains at 69 people, the Manchego president said that work is still underway to identify bodies. In fact, the Manchego president lamented that there are about thirty bags "with partial remains" at the scene of the accident and that identifying them implies "enormous complexity." According to the latest information from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, by midday this Friday, 65 autopsies had already been performed; 12 identifications have been notified to victims' families and 67 reports of missing persons remain active.

Regarding those hospitalized due to the accident, García-Page explained that the development of the situation is "notably positive": in Castilla-La Mancha, of the 110 injured who were initially admitted to the hospital for the accident, 39 remain this Friday, 17 of whom are still in the ICU. Therefore, 71 injured have already been discharged and, according to the Manchego president, those admitted show a "reasonably positive" recovery.

Pedro Sánchez also placed the number of nationalities of the tragic accident's victims at 27 and explained that work is already underway with the consulates of the different countries to manage the situation. "We understand and comprehend their situation of absolute anxiety," he said, in reference to all those people who are still waiting for information about their missing relatives. This Saturday, a mass is scheduled at the church of Urda for the victims of the train accident.