MADRID, Nov 4 — Spain’s transport minister handed in his resignation yesterday following a train crash that killed 69 people, one of the worst railway disasters in Europe this century and a blow for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez ahead of a snap poll this month.
Oscar Puente, who had earlier pledged to work “tirelessly” to restore confidence in the world’s second-largest high-speed rail network, also said he was withdrawing from the November 29 general election.
Last week’s crash, along with another disaster earlier this year, have overshadowed campaigning for the ballot, in which Sanchez is trailing in opinion polls.
“A transport minister in a country like Spain cannot remain in office after two accidents of such seriousness in less than a year, however different they may be, whether or not I bear direct responsibility,” Puente told members of parliament, referring to the latest tragedy and a January crash in Andalusia that claimed 46 lives.
