At least 64 people died and about 80 were injured Wednesday when two passenger trains collided in Toledo province in central Spain, Emiliano Garcia-Page, head of the Castilla-La Mancha autonomous community, said, as quoted by EFE. He added that the death toll could rise.
Earlier, the community’s spokeswoman, Esther Padilla, reported at least 30 deaths, cautioning that given the scale of the disaster the toll would most likely be higher. The daily ABC, citing Spain’s Civil Protection agency, had reported at least 46 dead.
In an interview with Antena 3 television, Padilla said all of the injured had been evacuated from the train cars and that the recovery of bodies was under way.
The collision on a high-speed line occurred shortly before 9 a.m. near the town of Urda. Both trains were running on the Madrid-Seville route. According to preliminary findings, one of the trains had stopped or slowed significantly several minutes before the crash because of traffic problems on the line.
“From the information we have had since the moment of the accident, Iryo train 6076, which was carrying 146 passengers and an infant, stopped on the Madrid-Seville route, and AVE 2080 hit it from behind,” Padilla told the media. She added that the second train had 397 passengers on board.
Passengers who called the public radio station Cadena SER described a “huge impact.”
As a result of the collision, two train cars fell down an embankment. Numerous ambulances and helicopters were sent to the scene. Authorities in Urda, near where the collision occurred, prepared a sports hall to serve as a first-aid point for the injured. The Madrid community also arranged hospital beds for the injured.
The injured are being taken mainly to the university hospital in Toledo and to the Mancha Centro hospital in Alcazar de San Juan. Some of the injured may also be taken to hospitals in Ciudad Real. All of these cities are in Castilla-La Mancha.
The spokeswoman for the Castilla-La Mancha authorities urged residents not to go to emergency rooms in Toledo and Alcazar de San Juan unless absolutely necessary. Blood donation centers, meanwhile, appealed for people to donate blood.
The rail company Renfe said on social media that train service between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia had been suspended.
Hotlines have been set up for relatives of passengers to get information: +34 900 10 10 20 (run by rail operator Renfe), +34 900 00 14 03 (run by operator Iryo) and +34 900 12 21 12 (Castilla-La Mancha emergency services).
Psychological support and information points for relatives of passengers on the trains that collided have been set up both at Seville’s Justa train station and at Madrid’s Atocha station.
The cause of the incident is not yet known. The news site 20 minutos, citing government sources, reported that the transport ministry and Adif, the company responsible for rail infrastructure, are examining a hypothesis that the cause of the disaster may have been “human error by an Adif employee” while fixing a failure in the main signaling system.
“I am shaken by the serious rail accident in the province of Toledo. My condolences, solidarity and support to all the victims and their families,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X. He added that he was on his way to the scene of the disaster.
King Felipe VI of Spain expressed sorrow “over this terrible tragedy” and conveyed to the families “condolences, our sadness, support and affection at such a difficult and painful time.”
Spanish political parties, with the exception of the far-right Vox, canceled all events planned for Wednesday as part of the ongoing campaign ahead of the Nov. 29 parliamentary elections, citing the tragedy.
The Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) called on all local governments to honor the victims of the rail disaster with a minute of silence at 8 p.m. Wednesday in front of local government buildings.
Wednesday’s train collision is the second major rail disaster in Spain this year. The first occurred in January on a high-speed line in Adamuz, in Andalusia in the south of the country. It killed 46 people and injured nearly 300.
From Madrid, Justyna Wojteczek (PAP)
