Funeral mass held for 69 killed in high-speed rail crash in Spain

A state funeral was held for the 69 people killed in the high-speed rail crash in Spain last month.

This as the European Union's independent prosecutor noted it had opened an investigation into possible fraud in the use of EU funds allocated for safety upgrades on the affected high-speed railway line.

The funeral mass was held in Toledo Cathedral in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha.

Participants placed 69 candles near the altar to honour the victims, with King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia also attending the service seen sitting near families that lost loved ones in the tragedy.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez did not attend the funeral service.

The collision happened on October 28 when a high-speed train rammed into another near Urda on the Madrid-Seville line.

The incident marked the second deadly high-speed rail crash in the Iberian nation this year, after an earlier crash in Cordoba killed 46 people in January.