US citizen is reported as latest victim in deadly train wreck

A 58-year-old Houston woman, who was badly injured in last week’s train crash in Ferrol, has died, bringing the death toll from Spain’s worst rail disaster in four decades to 79.

Myrta Lasalle Fariza was traveling with her husband in car number seven when she sustained head injuries after the train derailed. She and her husband, Robert Fariza, who was slightly injured, had traveled to Rome to attend their daughter’s wedding and were on their way to celebrate the Day of the Apostle in Santiago de Compostela, family members have said.

Fariza, a native of Moca, Puerto Rico but who had been living in Houston for the past 35 years, died early in the morning from her injuries at the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario hospital in Santiago de Compostela.

“Last night she took a turn for the worst and the doctors said there wasn’t anything more they could do for her,” Brenda López, a relative of Myrta’s told the San Juan daily Primera Hora on Sunday.

José Enrique Avilés, mayor of Moca, Puerto Rico, told NotiCel news portal that family members were gathered in at the home of Lasalle’s aunt to discuss funeral arrangements and bringing her body back from Spain.

Of the 178 persons who were treated for their injuries, 70 are still hospitalized, according to Galician government authorities, who add that 22 are still in critical condition.

Lasalle Fariza, who worked as a penal officer for the US District Court in Houston, is the second US citizen who died in the train accident.

Ana María Ángel de Córdoba, 47, of Fairfax, Virginia – sister to Colombian television soap opera actor Gustavo Ángel, according to the Bogotá daily El Tiempo, -- was killed in the train accident. She was on her way to visit her youngest son, Santiago, who had just completed the Saint James Way, The New York Daily News reported on its website.

De Córdoba worked for the Catholic Diocese of Arlington as a benefits specialist for many years.