At least 35 people have been killed after two high-speed trains collided in Spain on Wednesday, in the second deadly rail disaster in less than a year on a major route linking Madrid with the southern Andalusia region.
The collision involved trains operated by Renfe and Iryo and occurred shortly after 09:00 local time on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed rail line, according to Spanish railway infrastructure operator Adif.
More than 500 passengers were reportedly on board the two trains when the collision occurred. Two carriages of the Iryo train derailed.
Authorities in Castilla-La Mancha confirmed that the death toll had risen from 10 to 30, after earlier warning that the number of fatalities could increase further.
The number of injured passengers remains unclear, while the cause of the collision has yet to be established.
“Traffic on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed rail line has been suspended following a rear-end collision between two trains,” Adif said in a statement posted on X.
A passenger travelling in the rear carriage of one of the trains described hearing a deafening crash as the collision unfolded.
“We heard a massive roar, a truly enormous thud that went on for 10 seconds, as if the train were about to derail. Through the right-hand window, we could see a wrecked train – I imagine it must have been the other one,” Miguel, who was travelling with colleagues, told COPE radio.
Footage broadcast by regional Castilla-La Mancha Television showed a derailed train, with at least one carriage remaining on an elevated section of track.
Twisted metal, broken panels and wreckage were scattered across the embankment below.
Manuel Galan, mayor of the nearby town of Urda, told Cadena SER that emergency services had requested local facilities, including a sports hall, to accommodate passengers and the injured.
All train services from Madrid towards Andalusia were cancelled following the collision, leaving passengers waiting at the capital's Atocha railway station.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed solidarity with the victims and their families and cancelled his official engagements for the day, while the opposition People's Party called off its campaign events.
Wednesday's crash comes just nine months after another fatal collision involving high-speed trains operated by Renfe and Iryo on the same railway line.
In January, a train derailed near Adamuz in Córdoba province and collided with an oncoming train, killing 46 people.
That disaster sparked debate in Spain over railway maintenance and whether sufficient investment had been made in the country's high-speed rail network in recent years.
The cause of the latest collision remains unknown.
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