Spain: train crash driver received 3 signals to slow down

MADRID, Spain – Investigators say the driver of a Spanish train that crashed, killing 79 people, received three warnings to reduce speed in the two minutes before the train hurtled off the tracks.

A court statement Friday says the driver was talking on the phone to a colleague when he received the first automatic acoustic warning in his cabin of a sharply reduced speed zone ahead.

VIDEO: Dual investigations launched in Spanish train derailment (July 29)

The statement said police forensic tests on the train’s black box data recorders show the last warning came just 250 metres (yards) before a dangerous curve where the accident occurred last week in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, At that point, the train was going 121 mph (195 kph) when the speed limit was 50 mph (80 kph).

The train derailed at 111 mph (179 kph).

For our full coverage of the deadly train derailment in Spain, click here