BARCELONA: Spain’s embattled prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, already beset by political and economic difficulties, faced severe embarrassment on Thursday after it emerged that he had sent “cut and paste” condolences for the Santiago de Compostela train crash.

After expressing his personal grief and sending his “most heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims”, his message went on to send even more regret “for the loss of human life and material damage” inflicted by the earthquake that struck the Chinese city of Gansu on Monday. The blunder was particularly unfortunate since Rajoy is from Galicia, the north-western region in which the crash took place, and was born in Santiago de Compostela, the nearest city to the site of the disaster.

Though the mistake was likely to have been made by an official in the prime minister's office, it was a further blow to a leader already under severe pressure. On Wednesday, the Spanish prime minister is due to appear before parliament to answer questions about his alleged involvement in the illegal funding of his party, the conservative People’s Party (PP).

By arrangement with The Guardian