DRAMATIC video of the moment an express train hurtles off the tracks at high speed has emerged online.
At least 78 people died and 140 were hurt in Spain's worst railway disaster for decades.
This astonishing security camera footage shows the intercity express speeding round a corner before jumping the tracks and hitting a concrete wall in a shower of sparks and debris.
All 13 carriages careered off the line and some caught fire. Passengers inside were crushed as the wagons piled on top of each other.
Today investigators were probing claims the loco may have been going at more than TWICE the 50mph speed limit when it crashed on a bend last night.
Tragic ... casualties were pulled from the carriages
Horror ... dramatic CCTV shows the train careering off the tracks at high-speed
A driver has been put under formal investigation after he was allegedly heard on a radio admitting going at 118mph.
He also said: "We are only human!", according to reports.
A Briton was among more than 140 people taken to hospital — 36 in a serious condition — after being pulled from burning wreckage.
Carnage ... rescuers beside carriages
Impact ... passenger train was ripped apart
The train, packed with 218 passengers and four crew, crashed two miles from Santiago de Compostela in the North-West of the country at 8.40pm local time — 7.40pm UK time.
Many victims were on their way to a religious festival due to take place in the city today.
Last night scores of bodies were lined up covered by blankets as rescue workers clambered over the mangled metal to pull the injured to safety.
Television footage of the aftermath showed one man on top of an overturned carriage using an axe to smash windows to reach passengers trapped inside.
Rescue ... injured passenger is carried away on a stretcher
Wreck ... high-speed loco careered off the tracks
Officials in Galicia said 73 victims were found dead at the crash scene and another four died in hospital.
The train was travelling from Madrid to the port city of Ferrol when it jumped the track on a curve.
Passenger Richardo Montesco said: “It was going so quickly. It seems that on a curve the train started to twist and the wagons piled up one on top of the other. A lot of people were squashed on the bottom.
“We tried to squeeze out of the bottom of the wagons to get out and realised the train was burning. I was in the second wagon and there was fire... I saw corpses.”
Aid ... medics help the injured
Disaster ... rescue teams worked through the night
Spanish newspaper El Pais reported the train may have been travelling at up to 124mph seconds before the disaster.
A driver is said to have radioed colleagues while trapped in his cab and said: "We are only human! We are only human!”
He also reportedly said he had being going at up to 200 km per hour (124mph) before correcting it to 190 km per hour (118mph).
He allegedly said: "I was going at 190. I hope no one died because it would weigh heavily on my conscience.”
The speed limit on that section of track is 80 km per hour (50mph).
A spokesman for Galicia's supreme court said a driver had been placed under formal investigation.
State railway operator Renfe said there was not thought to have been any technical failure.
A spokesman added: "There is an investigation underway and we have to wait. We will know what the speed is very soon when we consult the train's black box."
It is Spain's worst railway disaster since three trains crashed in a tunnel at Leon in 1944, killing up to 250 people.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was born in Santiago de Compostela, was due to visit the crash site this morning.
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5032680/THE-number-of-people-dead-after-a-train-derailed-in-one-of-Spains-worst-rail-disasters-has-risen-as-high-as-56.html#ixzz2a3ypRPMN
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