TOLEDO, Spain — Relatives of the 69 people killed in a high-speed rail crash in Spain last month attended a state funeral on Tuesday with the country's royals, almost two weeks after the disaster.
The ceremony took place in the 13th-century Toledo Cathedral, where residents of Urda placed 69 candles near the altar, one for each person who died. A 16th-century sculpture of Christ was brought from the town of Urda to the cathedral for the service, and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia sat near the victims' families.
The crash occurred Oct. 28, when a high-speed train slammed into another that was stationary on the Madrid-Seville line near Urda, about 90 miles south of Madrid. Twenty-eight people remain in hospital.
It was the second deadly incident this year involving Spain's extensive high-speed rail network, shattering public trust in a transit system regarded as one of the country's crowning achievements. The network carried 45 million travelers last year.
Under growing pressure, Transportation Minister Óscar Puente stepped down last week, followed by Luis Pedro Marco, the head of Spain's railway infrastructure operator. Last week, the European Union's independent prosecutor said it had opened an investigation into possible fraud in the use of European funds allocated for safety upgrades on the same high-speed line.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did not attend Tuesday's funeral service. He has pledged an investigation and improvements to restore trust in the rail system. Spain holds a general election on Nov. 29, in which Sánchez is seeking reelection.
Rail travel was disrupted again on Tuesday by a train drivers' strike, and a general strike on Wednesday is expected to cause further disruption to public transit and shutter or slow businesses, factories and shops across Spain.
