High-speed train crash kills dozens in Spain, many more injured

At least 39 people were killed and dozens more injured when two high-speed trains collided in Spain on Sunday evening, in the country’s deadliest rail disaster in more than a decade.

Carriages of a northbound train, heading to Madrid, derailed and were struck by another express train traveling south, near the city of Cordoba.

The northbound high-speed train, operated by private rail company Iryo, was traveling from Malaga to Madrid with 371 people onboard when its rear three carriages were derailed. They were struck by the front carriages of the The southbound train operated by state rail company Renfe, officials said

The collision, near the small town of Adamuz, about 360 km (223 miles) south of Madrid, caused both trains to overturn at speed, news agency EFE reported, with the front carriages of the second train plunging down an embankment.

The head of the regional government in Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, confirmed the death toll of 39 in a radio interview Monday, but said he expected the number to rise as cranes began removing the carriages. He said 11 adults and one child are in intensive care, in critical condition. A further 24 people were seriously injured, emergency officials said on X.

Passengers were seen scrambling out of the windows, and others escaped via the roof, in video verified by CNN.

The driver of the second train, an Alvia service traveling from Madrid to the southwestern city of Huelva, was among the dead, EFE reported, citing sources at Renfe – which owns and operates Alvia.

One survivor, Rocío Flores, described the scene as “total chaos.” She told Spanish newspaper El Pais that she was still in hospital in Cordoba and was covered in bruises.

Flores, who was on the southbound train, said: “We were thrown through the air. Thank God I’m okay; there were many people worse off than me.”

A woman who gave her name as Ana said the northbound train “tipped to one side… then everything went dark, and all I heard was screams.”

Her face covered with Band-Aids, she told Reuters that she was dragged out of the train covered in blood through a window by other passengers who had escaped. Firefighters rescued ⁠her sister from the wreckage, she said.

She said many of the passengers were severely injured. “You had them right in front of you and you knew they were going to die, and you couldn’t do anything.”

A mother whose daughter was traveling in the fourth carriage said her child called her in tears, describing the scene as a catastrophe.

“At that moment, she hung up on me. There was no coverage,” the woman told EFE from Huelva train station where distressed relatives are awaiting news of missing passengers.

The sound of passengers’ ringing phones echoed through the wreckage as their loved ones tried to contact them, according to a freelance reporter at Atocha train station, in Madrid.

“A lot of families that are in distress, that are anxious, are calling their family members,” the local reporter told the BBC’s Today programme on Monday. Emergency workers “can hear the phones… from inside the trains,” the reporter said. “But of course, people are not picking up.”

Some of those on board the southbound train were returning home after sitting prison service exams in Madrid. Raquel López, the manager of the prison academy in Huelva, told El Pais: “We are devastated. We have all sorts of situations: missing students, some seriously injured, and others who missed the train.”

The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of grief across Spain, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calling it a “night of deep pain” for the country. Sánchez is due to visit the site later Monday.

The accident is the worst on Spain’s railways since the Galicia crash in 2013 when 79 people were killed and 144 injured after a train slammed into a well and burst into flames near Santiago de Compostela.

Officials in Andalusia launched a large emergency response, involving firefighters, police and a military emergency unit in response to the crash shortly after 7.30pm Sunday.

Many passengers remained trapped in the hours that followed, with video footage showing rescuers working to free them in pitch-black conditions.

“The problem is that the carriages are twisted, so the metal is twisted with the people inside,” the region’s chief firefighter Francisco Carmona told Spanish broadcaster RTVE.

Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the cause of the crash remains unknown, but added it was “extremely unusual” as it happened on a straight stretch of track which had been recently renovated as part of a € 700m ($814 million) investment project and the train was relatively new.

“It is truly strange. All the railway experts who have been here today… and those we have consulted are extremely baffled by the accident,” Puente told Spanish TV channel Telecinco.

The president of Renfe, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, told Spanish radio that it was “too early” to know the cause of the tragedy and asked for patience.

But he said that the accident occurred on a straight section of track and with active safety systems and added that the trains were going at a lower speed than the limit set for that part of the line and the signaling system prevents trains from exceeding that limit.

Fernández Heredia added that Renfe was focused on assisting victims and organizing assistance to relatives, describing it as “one of the hardest moments of my life.”

Iryo, the operator of the northbound train, said that “for reasons still unknown, the train derailed onto the adjacent track…The train is newly built, manufactured in 2022, and its last inspection was carried out on January 15.”

A technical investigation into the accident has begun.

The King and Queen of Spain, who are in Athens to attend the funeral ceremony for Princess Irene of Greece, said they were following developments “with great concern.”

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the deceased, as well as our best wishes for a speedy recover to the injured,” said a statement from the Royal Household of Spain.

A wave of tributes poured in from other world leaders on Monday.

“My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the entire Spanish people. France stands by your side,” French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on Spain to “stay strong.” “We share the pain of the friendly Spanish people and extend our condolences to the victims’ close ones. We wish the injured a fast recovery,” he said on X.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, extended her “deepest condolences” to loved ones of those killed and injured. “The news of the train collision in Córdoba is devastating,” she wrote on X.

Spain’s high-speed rail network is one of the largest in the world, according to the state-owned railway infrastructure manager, Adif. Second only to China, the infrastructure links more than 50 cities.

High-speed rail services between Madrid and Andalusia are suspended, and trains traveling on the Seville-Madrid line are being redirected to their point of origin, Adif said.

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CNN’s Michael Rios, Pau Mosquera and Rocío Muñoz-Ledo contributed to this report.