The rescue in Urda approaches the end with some identifications of "enormous complexity"

BarcelonaThe rescue efforts for the Urda accident are reaching their final stage. This Friday, the government of Castilla-La Mancha detailed that the work "is very advanced," but President Emiliano García-Page was clear: "We do not rule out the possibility of more deaths," he admitted from Toledo. Although the death toll remains at 69 people, the number of reports of missing persons related to the accident that have not been resolved is 67. In fact, the Manchego president explained that work continues at ground zero of the accident and lamented that there are about thirty bags "with partial remains" and that identifying them is "enormously complex."

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 had initially been admitted to the hospital due to 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, the hospitalized patients are showing a "reasonably positive" progression. There has also been some positive news regarding the missing: among the 72 disappearances that had been reported, five people have been located alive. Among them are two people who are admitted to the hospital and a third who did not actually get on the train on the day of the accident.

In parallel, at the Forensic Institutes of Toledo and Ciudad Real, more than 60 professionals continue working on the autopsies and identifications of the deceased victims. According to the latest report from the Integrated Data Center (CID), autopsies have been carried out on 65 of the 69 recovered bodies, but identifications are proceeding at a slower pace: so far, 12 identifications have been notified to the victims' families, nine men and three women.

In this regard, it should be noted that, as detailed by experts, an autopsy normally lasts about two hours and during this time the information necessary to identify the person is also extracted. Usually, the simplest way to determine the identity of the victim is through fingerprints. In fact, for the moment, the twelve identified people have been identified using this technique by the Civil Guard's Criminalistics Service.

Other ways to determine the identity of the victims are through their personal objects –although with the impact it is likely that they no longer had them–, through DNA tests –there are several points where various citizens are providing samples to find their relatives– or by performing a dental identification.

Dogs and cranes on the ground

Meanwhile, in the accident's ground zero, tasks continue to inspect every corner of the terrain in search of victims and, also, evidence for the investigation of the incident. "The goal is to ensure that no one is left behind," insisted Civil Guard spokesperson Teresa Albacete this Friday, who explained that the canine unit had already swept the terrain on Thursday, but that they would return to "comb the area." They are doing so with four canine handlers and four dogs in order to find biological remains or any new missing persons.

Several cranes are also being used to move the wrecked train cars. In this part of the rescue operations, García-Page explained that "fortunately," when emergency services turned one of the wrecked cars over, they did not find any fatalities underneath. Given the advanced state of the rescues, the emergency status has been downgraded to level 1, and this, as the Manchego leader detailed, means that "many resources" that have already completed their work will be demobilized. On the ground, therefore, only the units in charge of judicial tasks and surveillance will remain.