A collision between two trains in southern Spain has killed 39 people, a new toll was announced today, reports the Beta agency.
A high-speed train, which was traveling on the Malaga-Madrid route with around 300 passengers, derailed in Adamuz, in the province of Cordoba and collided with another one coming from the opposite direction and carrying 184 passengers.
At least 73 people were injured, 24 of them seriously, reports the newspaper El Pais.
Several carriages of the second train then fell down an embankment about four meters high, making access to the accident site difficult, the Andalusian minister said.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente described the accident as "extremely strange", noting that it occurred on the right section of the track, that the track was rebuilt in May and expressed confidence that an investigation would clarify the causes.
Due to the severity of the event, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez canceled all commitments for today.
Previous toll - 21 victims
Reuters reported this morning, citing the Spanish Interior Ministry, that a high-speed train derailed in southern Spain yesterday, collided with another oncoming train, pushing it off the tracks and down an embankment, killing at least 21 people.
The accident occurred near Adamus, in the province of Cordoba, about 360 kilometers south of the capital Madrid, Reuters reported.
The president of the regional government of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, told reporters this morning that of the 75 people hospitalized, 15 are in serious condition.
He said at the time that the death toll was likely to exceed 20 and warned that it could rise.
"The force of the collision was extremely strong... we will probably find (more) bodies," Moreno said, adding that heavy machinery would be needed to remove the crushed metal parts of the trains and to try to find any new victims.
Videos from the scene of the accident, shared on social media, showed rescuers pulling passengers from the twisted carriages lying on their sides under bright spotlights. Some passengers were pulled out through broken windows, while others were carried away on stretchers.
The newspaper El Pais reported that a 27-year-old train driver on the Madrid-Huelva route was among the dead.
There were about 400 passengers on the two trains, mostly Spaniards travelling to and from Madrid after the weekend. It was not clear how many tourists were among the passengers, as January is not the tourist season in Spain, Reuters reported.
"There are many injured. I'm still shaking," Maria San Jose (33), a passenger on the Malaga-Madrid high-speed train that was the first to derail, told El Pais.
A passenger on another train, who was not identified, told public broadcaster TVE: "People were screaming, bags were falling off the shelves. I was travelling to Huelva in the fourth carriage, the last one, luckily."
The second train, which was heading towards Huelva and operated by state-owned company Renfe, was travelling at around 200 kilometres per hour at the time of the collision, El Pais reported.
It was not clear what speed the first train was traveling at when it derailed.
The cause of the accident is not yet known, Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente told a news conference at Madrid's Atocha station, adding that it was "really strange" that the derailment occurred on a straight section of track. That section of track was renovated in May, he added.
"Tonight is a night of deep sadness for our country," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on the X network.
The King and Queen of Spain are following developments with concern, their spokesman said.
"There are still prisoners"
The accident happened at 7:45 p.m., about 10 minutes after the Irjo train left Cordoba and headed for Madrid, authorities said.
"Train Irjo 6189 Malaga–(Madrid) derailed near Adamus and collided with one on the adjacent track. The train (Madrid)–Huelva, which was traveling on the adjacent track, also derailed," Adif, the company that manages the rail network, said in a post on social media.
Puente said most of the dead and injured were in the first two cars of the second train, the Renfe Alvija, which derailed and plunged down a railway embankment after the collision. There were 37 passengers in the first car and 16 in the second, he said.
The train driven by Irjo, which was operating on the Malaga-Madrid route, derailed and collided with a Renfe train operating on the Madrid-Huelva route, pushing it down a railway embankment.
There were more than 300 passengers on the Irjo train, while there were about 100 on the Renfe train.
Paco Carmona, the head of the Cordoba fire department, told TVE that the Irjo train was evacuated within hours of the accident, but that the Renfe carriages were badly damaged, with warped metal and seats.
"There are still people trapped. The operation is focused on extracting people from very tight spaces. We have to remove bodies to get to those who are still alive. It is proving to be a very complex task," he said.
A terrifying sight
Adamas Mayor Rafael Moreno told El Pais that he was among the first to arrive at the scene of the accident along with local police and that he saw what he believed was a badly dismembered body a few meters from the crash site.
"The scene is horrific. I don't think they were on the same track, but it's not clear. Now the mayors and residents of the area are focused on helping the passengers," he said.
Local television footage showed a reception center set up for travelers in Adamus, a town of 5.000, where locals brought food and blankets as nighttime temperatures hovered around six degrees Celsius.
Tearful passengers exiting the bus spoke briefly to local media before being ushered inside.
Salvador Jimenez, a TVE journalist who was on the Irjo train, shared photos showing the nose of the train's last car lying on its side, while evacuated passengers sit on its overturned side.
Irjo is a private railway operator, majority owned by the Italian state railway group Ferrovie dello Stato. The train involved in the accident was a Freccia 1000 and was operating on the Malaga-Madrid route, a Ferrovie dello Stato spokesman said.
The company said in a statement that it deeply regrets what happened and that it has activated all emergency protocols to work closely with the relevant authorities.
Renfe said the derailment of their train was caused by the Irjo train derailing and getting in its path, adding that emergency services were still extracting passengers.
Renfe said the company's president was traveling to the scene of the accident and that efforts were being made to provide support to passengers and their families. Adif suspended all rail traffic between Madrid and Andalusia.
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