One person has died and at least 15 others were injured after a commuter train near Barcelona struck rubble from a collapsed wall, Catalonia’s fire service said Tuesday, marking Spain’s second deadly rail accident in days.
“There are four seriously injured and one person who has passed away,” fire service spokesman Claudi Gallardo told reporters. Spanish state news agency EFE reported that the train’s driver was the person who died.
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Catalan emergency services said medical teams were treating at least 15 injured people at the scene and had deployed 11 ambulances. Authorities did not immediately provide further details on the identities of the victims or the number of passengers on board.
The crash occurred in northeastern Catalonia, near Barcelona. Firefighters said the train collided with debris from a wall that had collapsed, though no information was released about what caused the collapse.
The incident adds to a heavy week for Spain’s rail network. On Sunday, two high-speed trains collided in the southern region of Andalusia, killing at least 42 people. That disaster prompted national mourning and renewed scrutiny of rail safety as investigators began piecing together the sequence of events.
In Tuesday’s crash near Barcelona, first responders worked to stabilize the injured and secure the area around the damaged train as they assessed structural hazards from the fallen wall. Emergency teams remained on site into the afternoon, coordinating triage and transport for those requiring hospital care.
Images from the scene were not immediately available, and officials did not say whether service on nearby lines was disrupted. The fire service did not specify the exact stretch of track affected or provide a timeline for clearing the site.
While the causes of the two accidents are unrelated and occurred in different regions, the proximity of the incidents has heightened public concern. In Catalonia, emergency and fire officials focused Tuesday on rescue operations and medical treatment; there was no immediate comment on when a formal investigation would begin.
Details are expected to evolve as authorities collect witness statements and inspect the damaged infrastructure. For now, officials emphasized the priority was caring for the injured and securing the crash area near Barcelona, where the collapsed wall left rubble on the line and a commuter train unable to avoid impact.
Spain’s transport and regional authorities typically release preliminary findings in the hours and days after major incidents. As of Tuesday afternoon, they had not issued a public cause for the wall collapse or the subsequent collision.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
