Spain crash driver was "careless"

29 July 2013 Last updated at 03:15 ET The train crash driver, seen arriving here arriving at court, “said he wanted to die” after the crash, a witness tells the BBC

The driver of the Spanish train that derailed last week killing 79 people says he was “careless” when he drove at speed around a bend, reports say.

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was released from custody on Sunday. He faces multiple counts of reckless homicide.

A large funeral Mass is due to take place in city of Santiago de Compostela, where the train crashed.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who comes from the city, and members of the royal family are expected to attend.

Correspondents say the tragedy has shocked residents of Santiago de Compostela, a Catholic pilgrimage site in the north-western province of Galicia.

The area has been in shock since the accident

Santiago officials had been preparing for the religious feast of St James of Compostela – Spain’s patron saint – but cancelled it after the crash on Wednesday.

The city’s sports arena was temporarily turned into a morgue.

At the cathedral gates, pilgrims have left flowers and candles to commemorate victims of the crash.

Officials say 70 people remain in hospital, 22 of them in a critical condition.

Passport surrendered

Mr Garzon, 52, arrived at court in handcuffs on Sunday, his head scarred by an injury he suffered in the crash.

He was questioned behind closed doors for almost two hours by Judge Luis Alaez.

Later, a court statement said he had been released pending further investigations but must appear before a court once a week and is not allowed to leave Spain without permission.

His passport has been surrendered to the judge and his licence to drive a train has been suspended.

The crash is one of the worst in Spanish history

Under Spanish law, his legal status is that he is suspected of being involved in 79 counts of reckless homicide but has not been formally charged.

But officials said he had admitted negligence by being careless when rounding a bend too fast.

Reports have suggested the train was going at 190km/h (118mph) as he took the bend, where the speed limit is just 80km/h.

All eight carriages of the train careered off the tracks into a concrete wall as they sped around the curve on the express route between Madrid and the port city of Ferrol on the Galician coast.

The crash was one of the worst rail disasters in Spanish history.

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Spain crash driver was "careless"