Both the Valencian government spokesman Vicente Rambla and Mayor Rita Barberá have called the accident a "chance" event.
The fire brigade, medics and local police went to the scene after a passenger in the crashed train called the emergency services at about 1:03 p.m. (1103 UTC).
The incident came days before Pope Benedict XVI was due to visit Valencia for the World Meeting of the Families, attended by one million pilgrims.
[6] In June 2011, the magazine Interviú published that the train driver, who died in the accident and who received all the blame, was ill with epilepsy, which disqualified him for his work.
[8] In April 2013, the TV program Salvados questioned the official version of the incident as there were indications that the Valencian Government had tried to downplay the accident, which coincided with the visit of the pope to Valencia, or even to hide evidence, as the book of train breakdowns was never found.