Spain train crash death toll rises to 80

 Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has promised two investigations of the deadly train derailment in northwestern Spain, with suspicion focusing on excessive speed as the cause of the disaster that has left at least 80 people dead, including an American, and scores more injured.

The U.S. State Department said  that an American was killed and five were injured in the accident. A department spokesman did not provide details of the American casualties.
President Obama offered "heartfelt gratitude to the government of Spain and to the rescue personnel who are working to locate the missing and treat the injured, including at least six Americans."
The Spanish Interior Ministry has ruled out terrorism as the cause, the Associated Press reported. In 2004, an Al Qaeda-inspired bombing attack on train stations in Madrid killed almost 200 people.
Instead, investigators are looking at driver error as a possible cause of the train leaping off the tracks at high speed. Video from a security camera at the derailment site showed the train traveling at what appeared to be extremely high speed around a curve.
Survivors also have spoken of the train hurtling around the bend. The AP said the track on that stretch was designed for speeds of up to about 50 mph.
The regional government in Galicia confirmed that police planned to question the 52-year-old train driver, who is in Santiago de Compostela's main hospital with unspecified injuries, as both a witness and as a possible suspect, the news service reported. However, officials cautioned that possible faults in safety equipment were also being investigated.
Almost all those who perished were found dead on the scene, in an indication of the force of the derailment.
The train was en route from Madrid to the port town of Ferrol when it jumped the tracks Wednesday evening with 218 passengers on board.