The transport minister said a judge would investigate controllers’ actions, including authorizing a train to proceed at high speed though another was stalled in front of it.

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The accident, the second in less than a year on the same busy rail line, was one of the deadliest in the country’s history.

© Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Fernando Seco, 62, said he and others moved at least a dozen wounded passengers from the crash site, using parts of the wreckage as makeshift stretchers.

© Ana Beltran/Reuters