Central Spain: 64 Killed, Dozens More Injured in High-Speed Train Crash
At least 64 people were killed and dozens more injured after two high-speed trains collided in central Spain on Wednesday morning.
UPDATE 1445: The death toll following a train collision in Urda, Toledo, on Wednesday has been revised up from an initial estimate of 30 to 64, the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.
The original story continues as follows…
As rescue efforts continue the death toll is expected to climb during the day as more than 500 passengers were estimated to be travelling on the trains involved in the Toledo collision.
Rail operator Adif detailed that the incident occurred between the towns of Mora and Orgaz.
The disaster is the second deadly accident in less than a year on the line connecting Madrid to the southern Andalusia region, regional authorities said.
“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.
FRANCE24 reports Castilla-la Mancha regional government said the death toll had quickly risen to 30 from 10 after earlier warning it could rise.
“The information we are receiving is not good at all. There are at least 10 dead and it is possible that the number will increase,” Esther Padilla, spokeswoman for the government of central region, Castilla-La Mancha, told local media, CMM.
Such is the scale of the catastrophe there are fears the disaster could be “worse than Adamuz” last January when 46 people died in southern Spain after a train jumped the track and hit an oncoming train.
The latest accident happened when a high-speed train travelling from Madrid to the south of the country collided with another train that was apparently stationary. The crash caused at least two carriages to fall down an embankment, the BBC reports.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says he is “shocked by the serious train accident” and is in constant contact with the transport minister.
AP reports Spanish Health Minister Mónica García told TVE emergency workers were focusing on rescuing survivors and bodies from the two most damaged train cars. She said that the injured are being sent to different hospitals in the area.
“It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy,” García said.
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