Two Australians confirmed dead in Spain’s high-speed train crash

Two Australians are among 69 people who died in last week’s high-speed train collision after Spanish authorities confirmed the identities of three more victims.

A legal body set up to handle the identification work, made up of police and forensics experts, announced in a statement late on Monday the three latest confirmed victims – two Australians and a Japanese citizen. They have not been named.

Wednesday’s disaster – one of Europe’s deadliest rail accidents this century – has resulted in victims’ relatives enduring an agonising wait as forensics teams identify the dead, sometimes from individual body parts.

The victims include 54 Spanish nationals and 15 foreigners – four US citizens, two Australians, two Japanese and one each from Argentina, Canada, France, Mexico, Portugal, Tunisia and the Czech Republic.

Consular assistance was being provided to the family of two Australians in connection with the crash, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement on Friday evening.

“Our heartfelt condolences are with the families and loved ones of those killed, and with those injured and all affected by the train collision in Spain,” a spokesperson said.

“Australian officials are working with local authorities to confirm the welfare of the Australians.”

The accident was Spain’s second high-speed train collision this year and raised fresh questions about the country’s rail safety, after a crash in the southern region of Andalusia in January killed 46 people.

The latest disaster struck when a service by state operator Renfe ploughed into the back of a stationary train belonging to Spanish company Iryo outside the central village of Urda, about 130km (80 miles) south of Madrid.

The failure of an automatic safety system halted all trains on a 63km stretch of track, but a control centre authorised the Renfe service to resume its journey while the other train was still.

The Labor MP Jason Clare said on Thursday said accidents of this kind were “something people never, ever recover from”.

“The whole country is in shock at the moment, seeing these images on our screens. It’s just horrific,” he told ABC TV.

The tragedy came one month before a 29 November general election in which Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez will seek to overcome unfavourable polls and extend his eight-year premiership.