Spanish authorities confirmed on Monday they had identified all 69 people who died in last week’s high-speed train crash after forensics teams verified the identities of the final three victims.

Wednesday’s collision, one of Europe’s deadliest rail accidents this century, left families waiting for days as experts worked to identify the dead, sometimes using individual body parts.

A legal body made up of police and forensics experts announced the three latest confirmed victims late on Monday – two Australians and one Japanese citizen.

The victims include 54 Spanish nationals and 15 foreigners. The foreign nationals are four US citizens, two Australians, two Japanese and one each from Argentina, Canada, France, Mexico, Portugal, Tunisia and the Czech Republic.

The crash was Spain’s second high-speed train collision this year and raised fresh questions about rail safety after a crash in Andalusia in January killed 46 people.

The latest disaster happened when a state operator Renfe train crashed into the back of a stationary train run by Spanish company Iryo outside Urda village, around 130 kilometres south of Madrid.

An automatic safety system failed and stopped all trains on a 63 km stretch of track. However, a control centre gave the Renfe service permission to continue while the other train remained stationary.

The tragedy came one month before the 29 November general election in which Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez will try to overcome poor polls and extend his eight-year time in office.

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