Former minister Fátima Báñez dies in Urda train crash that killed more than 70

The accident and the government's first hypothesis

Fátima Báñez, a former employment minister aged 59, died in the rail accident near Urda in Toledo province on Wednesday, 28 October. She was on the Iryo train from Madrid to Seville, travelling to an event of the Confederation of Business Owners of Andalusia (CEA). Antonio Garamendi said she had been one of the last people rescued from the wreckage. Figures reported on Friday, 30 October, put the death toll at more than 70, and injured people remained in hospital. The government has put forward a first hypothesis of possible human error at the control centre in Atocha, Madrid.

Farewells in Huelva

Hundreds of people came to the wake at the Servisa funeral home in Huelva on Friday, which the family had opened to the public. Báñez had sat in the Council of Ministers from December 2011 until June 2018, and as employment minister she drove the 2012 labour reform, which the unions answered with a general strike. Former prime minister Mariano Rajoy, who called her one of his closest collaborators, spoke to reporters on arrival and declined to comment on the accident itself. He said:

“She was a person of enormous competence, intelligent, loyal, very hardworking and above all a good person.”

Former deputy prime minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, who described her as an irresistible negotiator who went out of her way to help people, and former minister Ana Pastor also attended. Several Andalusian regional ministers were present. The funeral is set for 16:30 in San Juan del Puerto, her home town, and the burial is private.

Tributes from business and unions

Antonio Garamendi, the president of CEOE, said he had shared nearly seven years at the organisation with her and praised her dialogue and her good politics. She had joined CEOE in July 2019 as his adviser and from July 2020 chaired the CEOE Foundation, at his own proposal. Garamendi told the media:

“Fátima was one of the most generous people I have known.”

Yolanda Díaz, second deputy prime minister and minister of Labour and Social Economy, signed the condolence book at CEOE headquarters alongside Pepe Álvarez, the general secretary of UGT. She posted a message on Bluesky that read:

“We are losing a minister committed to public service and to businesses in our country.”

Álvarez praised Báñez for her consistency and her willingness to work with trade unions, citing her role in the 2012 labour reform and her defence of the 2021 reform. He said their close relationship dated from his arrival at the UGT leadership in 2016, during the Catalan independence process.

Blame and the rail network

Garamendi used his remarks to criticise the state of Spain's rail network, saying employers had long called for better maintenance of the infrastructure. He pointed to a real lack of investment and rejected attempts to blame the train drivers, calling it unacceptable to place the blame on workers who had warned about the problem for a long time. He expressed solidarity with rail workers and staff at Adif, and he thanked the UME military emergency unit, the Guardia Civil, firefighters, ambulance crews and local residents for their response. Garamendi added that Spain needed an enormous investment in its trains.