No fewer than 21 persons have died after an accident involving high-speed trains in southern Spain, as authorities warned that the death toll could rise.
Over 30 are being treated for serious injuries in hospital, Spain’s transport minister Oscar Puente said.
The incident happened near the town of Adamuz, close to the city of Cordoba, when a high-speed train travelling from Malaga to Madrid derailed and crossed over onto another track, the rail network operator Adif said.
The derailed train then collided with an oncoming train, travelling from Madrid to Huelva. Andalusian emergency services said at least 73 people in total were injured in the collision.
The incident appeared to be “extremely strange”, Puente added, because the train derailed on a straight stretch of track, which had been refurbished in May last year.
The official cause is not yet known. An investigation is not expected to determine what happened for at least a month.
Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the country will endure a “night of deep pain”.
Iryo, a private rail company that operated the journey from Malaga, said around 300 passengers were on board the train that first derailed, while the other train – operated by Renfe – had around 100 passengers.
The mayor of Adamuz, Rafael Moreno, was one of the first people on the scene of the accident. He described it as like “a nightmare”.
In a post on X, the Emergency Agency of Andalucía urged any crash survivors to post on social media that they are alive.
The twisted wreckage of the train made it difficult to recover survivors and bodies, rescue crews said.
Cordoba fire chief Francisco Carmona told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE: “We have even had to remove a dead person to be able to reach someone alive. It is hard, tricky work.”
According to Adif, the crash happened about ten minutes after the train left Malaga at 18:40 local time (17:40 GMT). The company said it was setting up spaces for relatives of victims at Atocha, Seville, Cordoba, Malaga and Huelva stations.
All rail services between Madrid and Andalusia were suspended following the accident and will remain close on Monday. The company said it will keep terminals open overnight for impacted passengers.
