Spain train crash toll hits 69, with four Americans and one Canadian among the dead

Authorities in Spain have confirmed that four Americans and one Canadian were among the 69 people killed when two high-speed trains collided last week. By late Sunday, 66 of the dead had been identified, according to abcnews.com.

The crash unfolded last Wednesday in the province of Toledo, when a high-speed train slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks. Most of the victims were Spanish nationals, but the toll reached across borders: officials have also identified one victim each from France, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Portugal, Tunisia and the Czech Republic.

The search isn't finished. Three people are still unaccounted for — two Australians and one Japanese national — as authorities work to match remains and close out the list of the dead.

For Spain, the timing is brutal. The collision came just nine months after another crash farther south on the same Madrid-Seville line killed 46 people, a one-two punch that has rattled faith in a rail network long celebrated for its speed and safety record.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has promised an investigation and fixes to restore public trust in a system that carried roughly 45 million travelers last year, millions of them tourists. The wreck also landed a month before a Nov. 29 general election, where Sánchez is bidding to extend an eight-year run as premier — and where rail safety and infrastructure spending are now squarely on the table.