Train Driver Charged with 79 Counts of Homicide in Spain Crash [Reuters]

Francisco Garzon, the driver of the high-speed train that derailed near Santiago de Compostela, Spain, last week, has been charged with 79 counts of homicide after he admitted the accident was his fault, Reuters reports.

Garzon was driving twice the speed limit and lost control of the 8-carriage train when taking a curve.

He blamed his speeding on a “momentary lapse in judgment,” Reuters reports.

“Examining Magistrate Luis Alaez formally charged Garzon with ‘79 counts of homicide and numerous offences of bodily harm, all of them committed through professional recklessness,’ the court said in a statement,&rdquo ; the same media outlet informs.

Because he is not considered a flight risk, Garzon will be released pending trial. He has been asked to surrender his passport and not drive trains in the meantime.

The accident, Spain’s biggest of the kind, also resulted in 70 injured, 22 of which are still in critical condition. Garzon had a 30-year experience with RenFe, 10 of which as a driver.