Train Driver in Spain Was on the Phone

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was going twice the speed limit, say investigators
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2013 11:38 AM CDT
Train Driver in Spain Was on the Phone
Emergency personnel respond to the scene of the train wreck in Spain.   (AP Photo/La Voz de Galicia/Monica Ferreiros)

If Francisco Jose Garzon Amo weren't the most reviled man in Spain already, today's latest revelation might cinch it: Investigators say the driver in last week's deadly accident was on the phone when his speeding train went off the rails, reports the BBC. At least it doesn't appear to be a personal call—he was talking to an official at rail company Renfe, reports AP. But he apparently was "consulting a paper document" instead of watching the tracks. He applied the brakes moments before the crash, but given that the train was traveling twice the speed limit at nearly 100mph, it wasn't enough. Garzon has been charged with negligent homicide. (More train crash stories.)

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