Spain approves €30 million for Urda crash victims with €72,121 per death

Spain approves €30 million for Urda crash victims with €72,121 per death Spain has approved €30 million for Urda train crash victims, offering relatives €144,242 in aid and advances for each person killed, matching the rate set after January’s Adamuz crash. The Council of Ministers adopted Royal Decree-Law 32/2026 on November 3, and it took effect when the Official State Gazette (BOE) published it the following day. The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility split the €30 million into €15 million of direct aid and €15 million of advances on civil liability compensation. The decree itself opens two extraordinary credits of €15,309,165.24 each, both of which can be expanded. With parliament dissolved since October 5, oversight of the measure rests with the Permanent Deputation of the Congress of Deputies. The decree places the collision on October 28 at kilometer 118 of the Madrid–Seville high-speed line near Urda, in Toledo province. Renfe’s AVE 2080, with 397 passengers on board, struck the rear of Iryo train 6076, carrying 147 passengers, at high speed. Four cars at the back of the Iryo set derailed and fell down an embankment. The text records 69 deaths and more than 100 people injured. How the payments are calculated For each person killed, eligible relatives receive €72,121.46 in non-refundable aid and may request an advance of the same amount, bringing the total to €144,242.92. When a spouse or long-term partner and children survive, half goes to the partner and half is divided among the children. The children’s share also covers the partner’s minor children and, if they depended financially on the person killed, the partner’s adult children. Only when none of these relatives survive does the money pass to parents, then grandparents, then siblings. Injured people are paid under the 14 categories of the Mandatory Passenger Insurance scale, from €2,404.04 for the least serious injuries to €84,141.70 for the most serious, and can request an advance of equal value. The aid is exempt from personal income tax and can be combined with insurance payouts, operator liability and compensation under EU rail passenger rights rules. In return for an advance, the state takes over the beneficiary’s compensation claim up to the amount paid. If a court later awards less, the victim does not have to repay the difference. If it awards more, the victim receives the excess. Passengers, drivers, trainees and on-board staff of both trains who were killed or injured are eligible. Renfe and Iryo have 15 days to send the list of people on board. A separate resolution from the Secretary of State for Transport will set the application procedure, and victims will then have three months to apply, a period that can be extended. Decisions are due within six months after that window closes, partial approvals can come earlier, and each grant is paid in a single installment. Same rates as the Adamuz decree The €72,121.46 paid per death is the same amount set in Royal Decree-Law 1/2026, adopted on January 27 after the January 18 collision at Adamuz, in Córdoba province, and the January 20 accident at Gelida, near Barcelona. Its injury scale is nearly identical. That decree cited 45 deaths and 123 injuries at Adamuz and one death and 41 injuries at Gelida. Transport Minister Óscar Puente put that package at €20 million in aid and advances. The new decree also amends the January law. Courts handling criminal proceedings over the crashes must, on request, give the ministry the case information it needs to decide advance claims, and the rule covers Adamuz and Gelida advance requests that are still pending. If that information does not arrive within a month, the deadline for deciding advances is suspended, while direct aid continues to be processed and paid. Sick leave, jobs and assistance offices Sick leave that began before November 30 as a result of the crash counts as a work accident for benefit purposes. The ministry said this means payment from the …