Matteo Renzi and eight families related to the coach crash victims arrive in Catalonia

Barcelona (CNA).- Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, arrived this Monday in Tortosa, in the South of Catalonia, near the point where the coach crash occurred on Sunday, killing at least 13 international students who were returning from a trip to Valencia. Renzi’s visit was not official but personal, as he was related to one of the accident’s victims. Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, received him at the airport and will accompany him during his visit, together with the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, and the Catalan Minister for Health, Toni Comín. 7 of the 13 victims were Italian, two were German and the rest were from Romania, France, Austria and Uzbekistan respectively. All of them were aged between 19 and 25. Eight families have already travelled to Catalonia to start the identification of the victims and three more are expected to arrive throughout this Monday.

Although the identities of the victims have not been released, their nationalities have been revealed: seven Italians, two Germans, one Romanian, one French, one Uzbek and one Austrian. The families of eight of the victims have already arrived in Tortosa, near the point where the coach crash took place, to start the identification of the victims. Five more families are expected to arrive throughout this Monday.

The process of identification proved difficult because the coach was one in a group of five returning to Barcelona after celebrating the Fallas festivities in Valencia, and there were no passenger lists of who was on which coach.

The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, also arrived in Tortosa, but his visit was not official. He was related to one of the victims. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont received him at the airport and will accompany him during his visit, together with the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, and the Catalan Minister for Health, Toni Comín.

The driver, who has driven for the company that chartered the bus for 17 years and had never had an accident, tested negative for drugs and alcohol. He was first questioned by police on Sunday and was due to declare before the judge this Monday. However, further examinations revealed chest injuries and he has been transferred to an intensive care unit. Thus, the hearing has been postponed.

Two days of mourning have been declared in Catalonia and five minute’s silence was held in tribute to the victims at midday at the University of Barcelona, where most of those killed were studying. President Puigdemont, together with the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, the University of Barcelona’s rector, Dídac Ramírez, many Catalan MPs and numerous students attended the tribute.