The President of the Government of Spain announces three days of official mourning for the Adamuz accident

The Minister for Transport, Óscar Puente, the Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the First Vice-President, María Jesús Montero, during their visit to the area affected by the accident (Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo)

During this period of official mourning, the national flag will fly at half-mast outside all public buildings, including representations and missions abroad, and navy ships.

The president made this decision during an appearance before the media, after visiting ground zero of the train accident and learning about the state of the emergency situation, as well as the latest news on the work being carried out by the different teams. His appearance was as follows:

"Thank you very much president (Moreno), vice-president, ministers, mayor, president of the regional government, and thanks first of all to the media for attending these statements and, of course, also for the public service work they are doing to be able to inform all citizens of the tragic accident that took place yesterday.

It has been said before, and I agree with it, that today is a day of pain for the whole of Spain, for the whole of our country, and our thoughts, if they are directed at anyone, are directed at the victims, their families, to whom we want to send our thoughts, our solidarity and the whole embrace of Spanish society at this time, which is difficult to describe or define in words. Of course, we also wish a speedy recovery to all the victims of this tragedy.

Every tragedy demands two things from society's institutions that have been pointed out: first, unity in grief, and second, unity in response. And I believe that from the very moment this tragedy occurred, the State has acted as it should have acted: united, coordinated and with loyalty, as has been said before. And I would like to highlight and acknowledge the work of all the public servants, the health services, the emergency services, the State law enforcement forces and agencies, from the City Council to, of course, the General State Administration, and acknowledge - because they have been working, I know, these long hours of the night - their dedication, their professionalism and their humanity, which I believe is also very important to highlight at this time of such pain, of such tragedy, in which we also empathise with the work and the work that they have been carrying out and continue to carry out today.

It is true that Spanish society, like everyone else, is wondering what happened, how it happened, how this tragedy was able to happen. And time and the work of the technicians, I am convinced, will give us the answer. And that is one of the ideas that I would also like to convey to Spanish citizens. We are going to find the truth, we are going to know the answer, and when we know the answer to the cause of this tragedy, we will, of course, inform the public, citizens, with absolute transparency and absolute clarity, through the media.

In the meantime, what I can guarantee to the victims, to their families, is that the General State Administration, in coordination with the rest of the institutions, will be protecting them, we will be assisting them in everything they need and for as long as necessary.

And finally, as president of the Government of Spain, this afternoon we decree three days of official mourning from midnight tonight until Thursday, also at midnight.

Therefore, I would also like to acknowledge the institutional cooperation with the Junta de Andalucía, with the Diputación de Andalucía. Also with the Consistory, with its neighbours and with its neighbours. And also with all the neighbours of the towns near or close to the Upper Guadalquivir, because I know that they have been working from the first moment of this accident and that they continue to do so with the solidarity and humanity that I mentioned earlier, typical of the Andalusian people.

We will continue to work. Here is the Minister for Transport, Óscar Puente, who yesterday morning gave the first details of this tragedy. And we will, of course, continue to inform the media.

One final point I would like to make to the public as a whole is to listen and access official information. They should also do so to the emergency services. To access information from verified media. Unfortunately, in other tragedies we have also suffered from this. The hoaxes, the disinformation is also spreading, generating a lot of anxiety, uncertainty and pain, especially when we are talking about the victims and their families.

Therefore, as I said at the beginning, I would like to thank the media for their work and ask the citizens, if they want to find out more, to do so through verified media and also through the official mechanisms that the General State Administration and the rest of the institutions are logically providing to find out every last detail of this tragedy. That's all, thank you.

Non official translation