Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 28: At least 64 people have been killed and may still be counting with scores of others injured in one of the deadliest train collision early on Wednesday south of capital city Madrid, the Spanish regional authorities said.
After the incident, the rail service between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia was suspended. “We are speaking of approximately 64 (dead), but this is probably going to grow even more,” the leader of the central region of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano Garcia-Page, told reporters at the scene.
The country’s rail system operator ADIF said the crash happened in the province of Toledo at 9:00 AM local time.
According to ABC News, the train accident was caused because of a human error. A public utility worker repairing a main signalling fault allegedly failed to warn an AVE high-speed train about an oncoming Iryo train. “Traffic on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed rail line has been suspended following a rear-end collision between two trains,” ADIF said in a message posted on X on Wednesday.
A southbound state-owned Renfe AVE train rear-ended a stationary Iryo train on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed rail line. The impact sent carriages tumbling down an embankment. The spokeswoman for the Castilla La Mancha region, Esther Padilla, said 397 passengers were in the Renfe train and 147 passengers in the Iryo train. Iryo, an Italian-owned company, said in a statement that it has “activated its security protocols and is closely working with authorities.”
Ms Padilla told state broadcaster TVE that the accident was between two high-speed trains carrying hundreds of passengers and heading in the same direction from the capital, Madrid, to Seville in south-western Spain. One ran into the tail of the other that had stopped, knocking two of its cars off the track. She said the cause of the crash was not known.
The crash, which occurred in a flat stretch surrounded by fields in between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes, left one car shredded into bits of metal and other material, scattering debris down a gravel slope.
Between the towns of Urda and Los Yebenes, the violent collision on a flat stretch of countryside left one vehicle shredded into unrecognisable fragments. Debris from the car was left strewn down a gravel slope. An 85-second aerial footage of the high-speed train collision shows two trains, one red and white and another silver, stopped on the tracks, with multiple carriages derailed and pushed off the embankment.
The accident involved two high-speed trains travelling in the same direction. One train reportedly struck the rear of the other, causing two coaches to leave the tracks. The precise circumstances leading to the collision were not immediately clear. Authorities are yet to provide a complete account of how the two trains came into contact or confirm the full number of passengers affected.
The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday said he was “shocked” after the second collision this year on Spain’s high-speed rail network. “Shocked by the serious train accident in Toledo. I remain in constant contact with the Minister of Transport, @oscar_puente_, and with the president of Castilla-La Mancha, @garciapage. Emergency services are working on the ground to assist those affected and ensure their safety, in coordination with all the involved administrations. My affection, solidarity, and support to all the victims and their families,” he wrote on X.
Spain’s high-speed rail network has received huge investment in recent years, growing to become the World’s second-largest after China and a source of national pride. But Wednesday’s accident comes after another collision between two high-speed trains outside the southern village of Adamuz in January left 46 dead, which raised major questions about safety on the country’s railways.
That crash was Spain’s deadliest train accident since 2013, when 80 people died after a train veered off a curved section of track outside the north-western city of Santiago de Compostela. Both of this year’s accidents happened on the line linking Madrid to the southern city of Seville.
The severity of the accident prompted local authorities in nearby towns to prepare for an emergency response. Manuel Galán, the mayor of Urda, told TVE that several passengers also sustained injuries and that civil protection authorities had asked the town administration to make a sports pavilion available to accommodate those affected.
Jesús Pérez, the mayor of another nearby village, Los Yébenes, also spoke to the broadcaster and described the situation as apparently “serious.” The regional president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, announced on X that he was travelling to the crash site. His visit comes as authorities assess the situation and respond to the aftermath of the collision.
The collision has disrupted rail connectivity across parts of central and southern Spain. ADIF said services had been suspended on routes linking Madrid with Ciudad Real and Andalusia. The suspension is likely to affect passengers travelling between the Spanish capital and destinations farther south. Further information on the restoration of services was not available in the initial reports.