Recreation

Thursday, 29 August 2013

Spanish train driver charged with 79 counts of homicide

Garzon is charged with 79 counts of homicide by professional recklessnessThe 79 killed will be memorialized at a cathedral in Santiago de Compostela on Monday eveningThey were killed after the train derailed Wednesday near the northwestern Spanish town

Santiago de Compostela, Spain (CNN) -- The 79 passengers who perished in last week's train crash in Spain will be memorialized together Monday night at a cathedral not far from where they were killed.

They came from near and far -- Europe, Latin America, the United States -- and had almost reached their destination of Ferrol on the northwestern coast when the train careened around a curve and derailed, hurling carriages into a concrete bridge support structure.

Five days have passed since the disaster, but many questions remain: What caused the train to derail? Was the train going too fast? And what did the conductor do in the moments before the crash?

The driver

The driver of the train, Francisco Jose Garzon, was charged Sunday with 79 counts of homicide by professional recklessness and an undetermined number of counts of causing injury by professional recklessness.

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A man leaves his cane next to candles in memory of the train crash victims, on Friday, July 26, in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. A spokeswoman for the Galician regional government told CNN that at least 79 people were confirmed dead.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":true,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":1,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

A woman looks on from a bridge where flowers were displayed in memory of the victims on July 26. The crash occurred on the eve of a public holiday, when more people than usual may have been traveling in the region. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":2,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

An American woman died in the train crash and at least five other U.S. citizens were injured, a deputy spokeswoman for the State Department reported on July 26. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":3,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Injured people are evacuated at the site of the July 24 train accident. The driver of the train is under detention and is being investigated for a "crime," Spanish police said on July 26. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":4,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

A car from an express train that crashed is lifted Thursday, July 25, at Angrois near Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The train derailed as it hurtled around a curve at high speed on Wednesday, July 24.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":5,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Emergency personnel work at the crash scene July 25. An investigation into the cause of the derailment is under way, but Spain's transportation minister says the train appears to have been going too fast.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":6,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, center, visits the crash site July 25 with Public Works Minister Ana Pastor, right, and Alberto Nunez Feijoo, head of the regional government in Galicia. The latter declared seven days of mourning for victims of the crash. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":7,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

A relative of one of the passengers waits to hear news in Santiago de Compostela as she talks on the phone July 25.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":8,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Other relatives of passengers wait for information in Santiago de Compostela on July 25.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":9,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Rescue workers inspect a carriage in the wreckage July 25.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":10,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

A general view of the derailment in northwestern Spain on July 25.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":11,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Emergency workers at the derailment scene July 25.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":12,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Emergency personnel evacuate a man at the scene July 25.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":13,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Emergency workers help passengers July 25.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":14,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Women wait for news about crash victims in Santiago de Compostela on July 25.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":15,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Teams at the crash site July 25 expect to find more bodies, an official says.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":16,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

The train was on its way from Madrid to the town of Ferrol with more than 200 passengers aboard. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":17,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Train driver Francisco Jose Garzon, identified by Spanish newspapers El Pais and El Mundo, is helped from the scene by a police officer.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":18,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

The state railway company said the train derailed on a curve as it was approaching the train station in Santiago de Compostela.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":19,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Emergency workers climb on top of the wreckage as they help free injured passengers from the crash. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":20,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

While it was unclear how fast the train was going at the time of the crash, it was capable of reaching up to 155 mph. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":21,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Rescuers work to pull victims from the derailed cars. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":22,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

One person at the scene said he saw several passengers and witnesses helping get people out of the mangled cars. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":23,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Rescuers work to clear a derailed car. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":24,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

"The efforts now center on searching for bodies and victims that could still be alive in the wreckage of the cars," journalist Ignacio Carballo from the Voz de Galicia newspaper told CNN en Español.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":25,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Officials said blood donations were needed as a result of the crash.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":6,"y":1,"pos":26,"title":"Deadly train crash in Spain"}

Photos: Deadly train crash in Spain var currExpandable="expand26";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='bestoftv/2013/07/28/wr-spain-train-crash-investigation-penhaul.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130728022255-wr-spain-train-crash-investigation-penhaul-00004611-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand26Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand36";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='international/2013/07/27/spain-train-crash-rescuers.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='http://edition.cnn.com/?hpt=ed_Intl';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130727044712-spain-train-crash-rescuers-00014023-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand36Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand46";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='world/2013/07/27/newday-intv-penhaul-train-driver-charged.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='http://newday.blogs.cnn.com/';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130725185626-spain-derailment-c1-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand46Store=mObj;A court granted Garzon conditional release, but his license to operate a train has been suspended for six months. He also surrendered his passport and must report to court weekly.

Many have questioned how fast the train was traveling when its wheels left the track near Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday evening.

Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters Saturday there are "rational indications" that the crash was the fault of the driver. But pressed on what those are, he declined to provide details.

Police now have the data recorders from the train.

A somber task

Over the weekend, relatives of victims embarked on the grim but necessary task of picking up the luggage left behind.

A solemn parade of mourners wheeled bags away from the police station in Santiago de Compostela. The suitcases had been recovered from the wreckage scene, their owners either dead or badly injured.

About 70 people injured in the crash remained hospitalized Sunday, including 22 in serious condition, a representative for the regional health department said.

Identifying the bodies

At least 75 bodies have been identified, but it's unclear whether dozens of body parts belong to those accounted for or those yet to be identified.

The dead include at least 63 from Spain, said Maria Pardo Rios, spokewoman for the Galicia regional supreme court. Some of the other victims came from the United States, Latin America and Europe.

Myrta Fariza was one of the two Americans killed. She and her husband were on their way to a Catholic festival; He was injured and later released from the hospital.

"Myrta was our loving wife, mother, sister, mother-in-law, aunt and friend, and words cannot express our sense of loss," her family said in a statement. "To all who knew her, Myrta provided irreplaceable love, compassion, courage, friendship and support. We will miss her dearly."

Forensic experts said Saturday there are 37 body parts that must still be tested to see whether they belong to bodies that have already been identified, or to others not yet known.

Going too fast?

The driver of the train has said it was traveling about 190 kilometers per hour (120 mph), the Spanish news agency Efe and the national daily El Pais reported, citing sources within the investigation

But a spokeswoman for the national railway Renfe did not disclose the speed the train was traveling on an express track, where cars can go as fast as 250 kph. But she said the speed limit for the bend of track where the crash occurred is 80 kph.

Rafael Catala, secretary of state for transport and housing, told Spanish radio network Cadena SER that the "tragedy appears to be linked to the train going too fast" -- but that the reasons it was going so fast are not yet known.

The express passenger service was nearing the end of a six-hour trip from Madrid to the town of Ferrol, on the Atlantic coast, when the crash occurred, the state railway said.

Firefighter Miguel Angel Bello said the first four minutes after he arrived on the scene were a desperate race against time.

He and fellow firefighters smashed windows and kicked in doors to pull out the passengers trapped inside as rail cars went up in flames.

A young girl in the wreckage called out to him.

"She was under wreckage she said she wanted to get out and go home," he said. "But she died."

'It felt like a roller coaster'

Elder Stephen Ward of Utah was headed to the coastal Spanish town, ready to start a two-year Mormon religious mission.

The last thing he remembers from the train was flying sideways out of his seat.

"We had been going around some pretty sharp turns. We finally came to one more sharp turn, and the train, like, completely lifted up," he said. "It was leaning sideways. It felt like a roller coaster."

Ward, 18, blacked out when his car slammed on to its side, regaining consciousness only as he was being helped out of the train.

"I've got staples all over my scalp, I was covered in blood," he said. "They've scrubbed most of it off me now, but everyone was just covered in their own blood and occasionally the blood of others. It was gruesome to say the least."

Ward was discharged from the hospital Thursday, wearing a neck brace because of a cracked vertebra he suffered in the crash. Lacerations on his face are stapled shut, and there's a huge bruise on his leg.

Once he recovers, he plans to return to his missionary service.

CNN's Karl Penhaul reported from Santiago de Compostela and Holly Yan from Atlanta. CNN's Laura Perez Maestro, Catherine E. Shoichet, Mariano Castillo, Laura Smith-Spark, Al Goodman, Bob Hand and Jonathan Helman contributed to this report.

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$53M in jewels stolen in Cannes heist

An armed robber steals $53 million worth of jewels from a hotel, police official saysSecurity was present but unarmed, deputy prosecutor saysThere were two major jewel heists at Cannes Film Festival events this year

Paris (CNN) -- An armed robber held up a jewelry exhibition in the French resort city of Cannes on Sunday, stealing jewels worth $53 million (40 million euros), a Nice police official told CNN on the condition of anonymity.

The robbery -- the third such heist around the city since May -- took place Sunday morning at the Carlton Hotel, according to Philippe Vique, deputy prosecutor for organized crime in the prosecutor's office for the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. He could not confirm the value of the jewelry.

The robber, whose face was covered by a hat and a scarf, threatened to shoot the exhibitors and guests, Vique said.

Security guards were present but unarmed, he said.

The exhibitor, Leviev Extraordinary Diamonds, confirmed the heist and said it was "relieved that no one was injured in the robbery."

The robbery follows two major jewel heists this year at events tied to the Cannes Film Festival.

Read more: $1 million jewels stolen during Cannes Film Festival

During the festival in May, a necklace worth $2.6 million (2 million euros) was stolen from a hotel party shortly after more than $1 million worth of jewels were stolen from a safe in a hotel room.

Jeweler de Grisogono said the necklace was part of a collection making its debut.

The jewels were from the Swiss firm Chopard, which was sponsoring the festival.

Read more: The world's biggest diamond heists

The high-profile thefts follow a brazen heist in neighboring Belgium in February. Eight masked, heavily armed men used two vehicles to burst through a hole in the perimeter fence at Brussels Airport and nabbed $50 million in rough and polished diamonds from the hold of a Zurich-bound aircraft before speeding away. More than 30 arrests have been made in that incident.

And in 2008, four armed robbers -- two disguised as women -- walked into luxury jeweler Harry Winston's store on Paris' famed Champs Elysees and swiped an estimated $111 million worth of merchandise in the span of 15 minutes. Those gems were found in 2011, hidden in a rain sewer at a house in the Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis.

CNN's Stephanie Halasz, Vladimir Duthiers and Lauren Russell contributed to this report.

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London 2012 legacy?

ComRes poll: 22% of the public feel the Games have had a positive impact on the local economy In the second-quarter, the U.K. grew by 0.6%, double the rate of expansion for the first three months of 2013Mayor of London Boris Johnson said that the success of the Olympics and Paralympics has spurred investment

London (CNN) -- Over two-thirds of Britons believe the £9 billion ($13.8 billion) bill for the London Olympics was worth it, but economists and business leaders argue it could take years to see the economic benefits.

According to a poll by research consultancy ComRes, released on the first anniversary of the Games, 69% of participants said it was a good investment of public money.

But only 22% of the public feel the Games have had a positive impact on the local economy in their area, with 67% saying the Olympics had no impact at all.

Samuel Tombs, an economist at Capital Economics, said there was an obvious boost to UK economic growth during the Games but it was too early to see a legacy benefit.

He told CNN: "I think there are question marks over whether the £10 billion of public money spent on the games could have been better used... for example infrastructure projects such as transport, that could have yielded a higher economic return."

In the second-quarter of 2013, the U.K. grew by 0.6% -- double the rate of expansion for the first three months of the year -- suggesting Europe's third-largest economy is on track for a recovery. Tombs said the figures also showed growth in all areas of the economy, which he noted was was a first in recent years.

The UK contracted for five consecutive quarters from the second quarter of 2008, and failed to grow for another nine months in late 2011 and early 2012 as the eurozone debt crisis raged.

Although the cultural heritage of the Olympics is important, it could take years before we see its true economic value, according to Tombs.

He said: "You often fail to see a boost in tourism for the years after the Games and obviously it's very hard to reuse the facilities that have been built."

Director of Economics at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mark Ambler, said the benefits may not be evident for at least another 10 years. He told CNN: "On this basis, the evidence I have been involved in generating and that I have seen from others suggests strongly that the UK will get a good return on its investment, although I think important parts of it are still to come."

Investment boost

On Thursday, Mayor of London Boris Johnson said that the success of the Olympics and Paralympics has spurred investment in the U.K capital.

Speaking at a press conference, he said: "Remember the fate of the Olympo-sceptics is all I would say to anyone tempted to doubt the legacy."

But according to Matthew Jaffa, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, not enough is being done in the wake of the Olympics to promote "Brand London" as an exporter.

He added: "The Games have had more of an impact on London than the rest of the UK. 55% of the companies that won contracts, directly related to the Olympics, saw growth within the turnover of their business, which is positive."

Despite skepticism from some quarters of the business community, the ComRes poll -- which surveyed over 3,200 people -- also showed that nearly three-quarters of Britons would welcome the Olympic Games back given the opportunity.

Andrew Simms, political economist and and co-author of the book 'London 2012 - How Was it For Us?' said the Games were "a triumph of public endeavour... it's a very good example of what a very dynamic and focused public sector can do."

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