Yesterday the FGR also arrested Felipe de Jesús Díaz Gómez, a railway operator, for his alleged responsibility in the derailment.
Elements of the Federal Ministerial Police executed the arrest warrant against Díaz Gómez in Palenque, Chiapas. Díaz Gómez is also accused of the crimes of manslaughter and negligent injuries.
According to the FGR, Felipe de Jesús, train driver, and Emilio Erasmo Canteros Méndez, train driver, did not have valid federal railroad licenses when the derailment occurred. Canteros is the one who has not been arrested.
“Accident that was caused by the actions of Emilio Erasmo Canteros Méndez as driver, Felipe de Jesús Díaz Gómez as driver and Ricardo Mendoza Cerón, aboard the locomotive FIT3027, due to the fact that Emilio Erasmo Canteros Méndez exceeded the permitted speed limit of 50 kilometers per hour,” the arrest warrant says.
“Regarding Felipe de Jesús Díaz Gómez and Ricardo Mendoza Cerón, they did not activate the emergency brake valve to stop the train, due to the excess speed with which Emilio Erasmo drove it (sic), in addition to the fact that the engineer and driver did not have a valid federal railway license, which authorizes them to exercise the functions ‘typical of their position,'” he adds.
Speeding
The Attorney General of the Republic, Ernestina Godoy, reported that at the time the derailment of the Interoceanic Train occurred, the locomotive was traveling at excess speed. At the point where the accident occurred, a speed of 50 kilometers per hour was authorized, but he was traveling at 65 kilometers per hour.
When presenting an opinion on what happened on December 28 with the Interoceanic Train, the prosecutor explained that the train reached speeds of 111 kilometers per hour in straight areas when the maximum was 70 kilometers per hour.
In her first message as Attorney General of the Republic, Ernestina Godoy presented the first conclusions of the Interoceanic Train accident, in which 14 people died.
He noted that no damage was found to the components of the railway superstructure and substructure, nor were any elements of failure found in the operation of the train.
“No elements were found with defects that could put the operation of the train at risk as established in the corresponding regulations. This means that the operation of the train was adequate, which includes its components, the operation of the machine and its physical condition,” he stated.
In addition, he confirmed that the train’s brakes were working, since it was identified that at some moments it stopped completely.
