Spain’s Transport Minister, ãoscar Puente, has resigned six days after the tragic accident of high – speed trains, where at least 69 people lost their lives and dozens of others were injured.
He announced his decision in Parliament after witnessing about last Wednesday’s accident near the town of Urda, south of Madrid, where a train crashed into the back of another train that had stopped on the same line.
A transport minister in a country like Spain cannot stay in office after two accidents of this scale in less than a year, he said, referring to the January accident on the same line where 46 people died.
Last week’s accident was one of the worst railway tragedies in modern European history and the most fatal accident in Spain since 2013.
Puente announced his resignation at the end of Tuesday’s evening parliamentary session, during which he had presented new measures for railway security and had faced opposition questions.
He said the decision to leave the post had been made shortly after the October 28th accident, but had not made public.
The minister had faced ever greater pressure after the tragedy, as opposition parties and some government allies had called for his resignation.
Source Layer: Insander