Spain high-speed train collision kills 68

URDA:

At least 68 people were killed and more than 100 injured when two high-speed trains collided in central Spain on Wednesday, the country's second major rail disaster this year, prompting fresh questions over railway safety and the circumstances that led to the crash.

The collision occurred near Urda, south of Madrid, where several carriages derailed and plunged down an embankment, leaving twisted metal and wreckage scattered across the site. Emergency workers continued searching carriage by carriage for survivors and additional victims, while injured passengers were evacuated from the scene.

Castilla-La Mancha regional leader Emiliano Garcia-Page confirmed the death toll had risen to 68. More than 100 people were injured, according to regional authorities, while Spain's health minister Monica Garcia said 15 of the injured were in a very serious condition.

The crash involved a train operated by state railway company Renfe and another run by private operator Iryo. Renfe said the main high-speed line connecting Madrid with southern Spain had been suspended following the collision, which occurred at around 9am local time.

Transport Minister Oscar Puente said a Renfe train had been authorised to continue despite a red signal triggered by a technical failure in the automatic control system. The failure had halted services along a 69-kilometre stretch of track, but an erroneous decision was made to resume the train's journey, he said.

Puente said the Renfe train travelled about 25 kilometres before striking the stationary Iryo train. The speed at impact could have reached 200 kilometres per hour, he added, questioning why the control centre had failed to identify and correct the error before allowing traffic to resume.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the tragedy would be investigated and pledged to address any failures uncovered. Announcing three days of national mourning from Thursday, he said it was unacceptable for Spain to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year, while adding that the causes of the two crashes appeared to be unrelated.

The opposition People's Party also suspended its election campaign ahead of next month's general election. Its leader, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, said Spain had the right to know what was happening with its infrastructure, as condolences poured in from across the country and Europe.

Passengers described scenes of panic inside the trains, with people thrown from their seats, luggage scattered and some travellers trapped among damaged seats. Survivor Salvador Arriza said passengers were breaking windows to escape, while others were unable to move because they were pinned beneath the wreckage.

Spain has invested heavily in its high-speed railway network, the world's second-largest after China's. The disaster follows a collision between two high-speed trains near Adamuz in southern Spain in January that killed 46 people.

Data from Spain's railway safety authority showed that accidents, including derailments and collisions, rose from 45 in 2016 to 57 in 2024 and 69 last year. The latest crash is likely to intensify scrutiny of the country's rail safety arrangements as investigators work to establish precisely how the collision occurred.