The death toll from Spain's high-speed train collision near Toledo has risen to 69, regional leader Emiliano Garcia-Page said on Thursday, as rescuers picked through mangled carriages in the search for victims.

Cranes worked through the night to lift parts of the wreckage of Wednesday's crash, while emergency workers removed what appeared to be a body wrapped in a blanket from one of the trains in the central province of Toledo. Garcia-Page said human remains had been found during the overnight efforts, with work now focused on a carriage that remained overturned, though he said authorities did not believe more bodies would be found beneath it.

Safety questions grow

The collision, between a Renfe train and a stationary Iryo train, is Spain's second fatal high-speed crash this year and Europe's deadliest train accident since the Santiago de Compostela derailment in 2013. Transport Minister Oscar Puente has described as inexplicable the control-centre decision to authorise the Renfe train to resume normal speed after an automatic protection system failure had halted at least six trains, according to reports of his remarks.

Investigators have not established a final cause or responsibility, and the controller involved has reportedly been questioned by police. Train drivers went ahead with a previously planned strike on Thursday to press for more investment in railway safety.

Victims and disruption

Among those killed was Fatima Banez, a former labour minister who chaired the social and corporate responsibility arm of Spain's employers' association. Spain's Foreign Ministry said 42 foreign citizens from seven countries were involved in the crash, of whom one was killed and at least seven injured, while 57 of the injured remained in hospital.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has pledged to establish what happened and to strengthen safety so such a disaster does not happen again. Source: Reuters via SRN News, corroborated by AP reporting.