Toledo Cathedral holds funeral for 69 victims of Urda train crash with Spanish royals

Funeral at Toledo Cathedral

The Mass for the 69 people killed in the Urda rail crash was held in the Catedral Primada of Toledo on 10 November, presided over by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. The service began at 19.00. Europa Press counted about 1,500 people in attendance, with roughly 150 relatives of the victims seated near the altar. The Archbishop of Toledo, Francisco Cerro Chaves, led the service, joined by the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Luis Javier Argüello, and the five bishops of Castilla-La Mancha. After the Mass the monarchs greeted relatives and injured survivors one by one for almost three quarters of an hour, according to El Mundo.

Attendees (about, Europa Press)1,500

Relatives of victims (about)150

Attendees (about, Europa Press)

1500 people

Relatives of victims (about)

150 people

Data from the article text

Officials and political leaders

The central government was represented by four cabinet members: first vice-president Carlos Cuerpo, Defence Minister Margarita Robles, Education Minister Milagros Tolón and Health Minister Mónica García. Congress president Francina Armengol, Senate president Pedro Rollán and Supreme Court president María Isabel Perelló also attended. The opposition delegation was led by Partido Popular leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, together with parliamentary spokeswoman Esther Muñoz. Castilla-La Mancha president Emiliano García-Page was present, and nearly all PP regional leaders attended, except Castilla y León president Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, who stayed to oversee the flood emergency in Ávila. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did not attend, and El País reports he said he does not take part in religious ceremonies, though it notes he has not always stayed away from them.

The ceremony

The image of the Christ of the Vera Cruz of Urda left its sanctuary for the first time since it was made in 1596, according to Europa Press, and was brought to the cathedral for the service. Sixty-nine candles, lit by parishioners from Urda, were set at the feet of the image, one for each victim. A sister of one of the victims gave the first reading, taken from St Paul's letter to the Thessalonians on resurrection. El País reports that several hundred Toledo residents gathered inside or outside the cathedral to stand with the families.

Demand for answers

In his homily, the archbishop called for the causes of the accident to be clarified and for responsibilities to be assumed, according to El Confidencial. He also asked for justice for the families and said the memory of the dead requires work on safety and on the value of every human life. The crash took place on 28 October near Urda, when an Iryo train collided with an AVE convoy, El Mundo reports. El País notes that the Church is also asking for answers, and that Adamuz became the epicentre of another rail tragedy nine months earlier.

Families and survivors

Relatives occupied the front pews, and El País described injured survivors among the congregation, some with bandages and arm slings, while others remained in hospital awaiting surgery. Emergency personnel from several services also attended, according to the same report. El Confidencial reports that one of the victims stayed on the list of missing people for several days before rescue teams confirmed the death.