Santiago De Compostela – Francisco José Garzón Amo is the driver who was in charge of the train that crashed in Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday. While Renfe have announced there was no alcohol in his system, certain controversial posts by the man on Facebook have surfaced.
During the last year, Garzón has been driving trains along the route where the accident took place. As he was in charge of the train at the time of the crash, he has now been called to appear before a judge in connection with the tragic accident.
On the day of the crash, Garzón relieved a colleague on the controls of the train in Ourense. It was just 100 kilometers later that the tragedy happened.
While the exact causes of the accident are still under investigation, a video published on YouTube from a railway CCTV camera suggests that excessive speed may have been to blame.
The media states that the Facebook profile of Garzón was deleted early yesterday morning, but that journalists and members of the public had a chance to peruse his profile for relevant posts.
On searching, however, a page on Facebook still appears to exist.
Among some damning posts on his social media page was a photo, uploaded on March 8, 2012, showing a speedometer with the needle at 200km/h. The description on the post translates as: “I can’t go any faster or they’ll give me a fine.”
Below the photo, some of Garzón’s friends and contacts had left a series of comments, as follows:
“Dude, you’re going full speed, braaaaake”
To which Garzón replied:
“I’m right on the limit, I can’t go any faster or they’ll give me a fine.”
Yet another comment read:
“Christ, you’re doing 200km/h.”
To which Garzón joked that the speedometer “has not been tampered with.”
Referring to the Spanish vehicle driving license, which operates on a point basis, yet another comment joked:
“If the Civil Guard catches you, you’ll lose all your points, hehe.”
To which Garzón replies, in block capitals:
“IMAGINE WHAT A RUSH IT WOULD BE TRAVELING ALONGSIDE THE CIVIL GUARD, AND PASSING THEM SO THAT THEIR SPEED TRAPS GO OFF. HEHE, THAT WOULD BE QUITE A FINE FOR RENFE, HEHE.”
These comments will naturally not auger well in the investigation of the crash.
Since then the initial comments have been replaced with angry remarks by Facebook users.
In the meantime, Spain’s Transport Minister, Rafael Catala, has said that the disaster appears to have been caused by the train travelling too fast.
Catala told the radio station Cadena Ser:
“The tragedy that happened in Santiago de Compostela seems to be linked to excessive speed, but we are still waiting on the judicial investigation and the one carried out by the investigating commission from our own ministry.”
Reportedly investigators into the crash will be able to determine the train’s speed at the time of the accident from its “black box”. While there were two drivers aboard during the journey, the first, unidentified driver drove the train from Madrid to Ourense before handing over Garzón, who was driving the train when it crashed.
source: http://www.digitaljournal.com
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