(Getty Images)
The death toll in the train derailment near the northwestern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday has risen to 78, reports BBC.
The official number is still expected to rise as not all areas of the wreckage have been searched because they are difficult to access. A spokeswoman for the high court of the region of Galicia said there is no indication that the accident was the result of an attack of any kind.
The train, which was carrying 218 passengers and four crewmen, derailed at 8:41 p.m. local time from Madrid to Ferrol. Spanish newspaper El País reported that the train was traveling 110 miles per hour while the speed limit on the track was just 50. According to the newspaper, the force of the derailment was so great that one train leaped 15 feet in the air and tumbled 45 feet from the tracks.
The death toll is the highest since the 2004 rail bombing where a total of 191 people were killed when Islamist extremists bombed four commuter trains in Madrid.
