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Spanish Train Driver Formally Detained After Devastating Crash

Train driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo is helped from the crash scene on July 24.
Spanish police have formally detained the driver who was at the controls of the train that derailed in northwest Spain, resulting in the country's deadliest railway crash in almost 70 years.

The Galicia region's police chief says the hospitalized driver, Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, is to be questioned "as a suspect for a crime linked to the cause of the accident."

Police have lowered the death toll to 78 after earlier saying 80 people had died in the June 24 crash.

The train, traveling from Madrid, came off the tracks near Santiago de Compostela.

Media reports say the train was traveling about 190 kilometers per hour, more than twice the track's speed limit.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, King Juan Carlos, and Queen Sofia traveled to the region and visited the injured in hospitals.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP