Spain has entered three days of national mourning after a high-speed rail collision claimed 68 lives and left dozens injured, as anxious relatives waited for word on family members still unaccounted for.
The crash, among the deadliest train disasters in Europe this century, has intensified scrutiny of Spain’s rail safety system. Transport Minister Oscar Puente said an “error” and “inexplicable circumstances” preceded the collision.
- Advertisement -
The trains crashed yesterday morning in Castilla-La Mancha, central Spain, after a Renfe service operated by the state-owned rail company struck the rear of a stationary train run by the private Spanish operator Iryo.
Through the night, emergency crews worked along the vital Madrid-to-Seville route, using cranes to lift twisted sections of metal from the wreckage.
Pablo Mejia, 42, suffered head injuries but survived. He said changing seats at the last moment may have saved his life.
He described hearing “a very strong hit” before seeing “a lot of people on the floor, on top of each other, seats ripped out, suitcases, a lot of chaos”.
“I think I’ve been born again,” he said.
Two people wait for updates outside a centre for relatives of missing victims
The grieving will be complicated – Red Cross worker
A school in Urda, a nearby village about 130km south of Madrid, has been converted into a centre where relatives can seek information about loved ones.
Red Cross teams met groups arriving at the school, including people in tears, as police and journalists from around the world gathered outside.
Carmen Garcia, a Red Cross psychologist, warned that staff faced “long and hard hours” because each person would respond to the tragedy differently.
“We have people who are in shock, who haven’t taken on board what has happened, angry people, sad, worried people. The grieving will be complicated.”
Aerial footage shows scene in aftermath of yesterday’s crash
The Civil Guard has opened four offices in Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba and Seville, where relatives can provide DNA samples to help identify victims and those still missing.
Authorities have also established blood donation centres across Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid.
Jose Miguel Fernandez, a parish priest in Urda, joined emergency workers as they supported the victims’ families.
“What matters most is being with the victims’ relatives, that they feel the closeness, because words at a time like this are pointless, but a hug helps,” he said.
Fr Fernandez said he hurried to the crash site, where he encountered “an image of desolation, despair, uncertainty, death”.
‘Inexplicable circumstances’
Mr Puente said yesterday that an automatic control system had failed along 69km of track, bringing all trains on that section to a halt.
Despite the failure, the control centre chose to “resume traffic in circumstances that, from our point of view, are inexplicable”, the transport minister said. The Renfe train then travelled 25km before hitting the Iryo service.
The control centre “had more than enough time to verify the error and they did not fix it,” he added.
The latest crash follows another fatal incident in Andalusia in January, when two high-speed trains collided after one derailed and crossed onto the adjoining track. That disaster killed 46 people.
An investigation into the January collision remains under way, while the left-wing government has faced intense criticism over its handling of Spain’s rail network.
The new disaster occurred just one month before Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is due to contest an early general election on 29 November, seeking to reverse unfavourable opinion polls and prolong his eight-year premiership.
