Spain train crash: Pedro Sánchez declares three days of mourning after at least 68 are killed
The Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has declared three days of mourning after at least 68 people were killed and dozens more injured in a collision between two high-speed trains in central Spain. The trains were travelling in the same direction on the line that stretches from the Spanish capital, Madrid, to Seville on Wednesday when one of the trains ran into the tail of the other, which had stopped, knocking several carriages off the track. The tragedy marked the second major train collision this year in Spain. “All of Spain is in mourning,” Sánchez said from the scene in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha. It was “unacceptable for a country like Spain to suffer two high-speed train accidents in the same year, as we have”, he said. Footage broadcast by the regional channel CMM TV showed a derailed train with at least one carriage remaining on an elevated section of track. Twisted metal, broken panels and wreckage could be seen strewn across an embankment beneath the line. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Spain’s transport minister, Óscar Puente, said such rear-end collisions were “highly unlikely” as he suggested that the crash may have been caused by human error made in “inexplicable” circumstances. He said the LZB signalling system, which automatically halts a train if the line ahead is occupied, had gone down at around 8.30am local time due to a computer malfunction. As a result, an estimated six trains had been halted along a stretch of about 63km, he said. The task of monitoring the rail lines then fell to a 24-hour command centre in Madrid. The centre instructed at least two of the trains to continue as normal, despite the fact that there was still a “stop signal” in place on the line, said Puente. “It was the control centre, through its operators, that made the decision to resume traffic, under circumstances that, from our point of view, are inexplicable,” he said. “Clearly, it was a wrong decision ... I am not attributing responsibility to anyone, I am just stating the facts.” The Castilla-La Mancha regional government said on Wednesday afternoon that the death toll had risen to 68 as rescue teams continued to search through the wreckage of the derailed carriages. Castilla-La Mancha’s leader, Emiliano García-Page, told reporters that more victims were likely as “it has not yet been possible to reach the bottom of the carriages”. Another 73 people needed medical treatment in hospital, he said, including 15 who were in serious condition. Miguel, a passenger travelling with several colleagues in the rear car of one of the trains, described the moment of the crash to Cope radio. “We heard a massive roar, a truly enormous thud that went on for 10 seconds, as if the train were about to derail,” he said. “Through the right-hand window, we could see a wrecked train – I imagine it must have been the other one.” The transport minister on Wednesday confirmed that the collision involved a train from Spain’s state-owned Renfe company and the private rail company Iryo – the same two companies whose trains were also involved in a crash in Adamuz in January in which 46 people were killed. In Wednesday’s disaster, the Iryo train was travelling ahead on the tracks and had been sitting stationary when the Renfe train was told by the control centre to resume its journey. The Renfe train then travelled approximately 25km before colliding with the Iryo train about 17 minutes later. The speed at which the Renfe train was travelling remains unknown, the transport minister told reporters, though the section of rail on which it was travelling allows for speeds of up to 200km/h. Puente said that similar erroneous instructions had been given to at least one other train on Wednesday morning. “And it was the engineer of one of the trains who corrected the command centre and told them he can’t resume normal operation – it has to be [an] on-sight operation,” Puente said, citing a protocol that allows trains to advance but at a greatly reduced speed in order to ensure that there are not other trains sitting on the tracks ahead. “The operator said: ‘Okay, on-sight operation.’” Sánchez said the causes of the crash were under investigation. If it emerged that it was due to failures in the security system or negligence, these shortcomings would be addressed with the “utmost severity”, he added. “Everything strongly suggests that the causes of the two accidents [Wednesday’s and January’s] are completely unrelated, but it is not up to me to say so,” he said. “But what is clear is that, if we need – as we certainly do – to further strengthen safety in order to rebuild confidence in our high-speed rail system, it will be done.” Manuel Galán, the mayor of Urda, near the city of Toledo, said he had been asked by emergency services to prepare a sports hall to accommodate the injured. Spain’s main political parties, which are gearing up for next month’s general election, suspended their planned activities for the day. The opposition People’s Party leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said on X: “Very concerned about the information we are getting about a new rail accident. The priority now is to attend to the victims and support their families. My full support to the emergency teams working on the ground.” Spain’s football federation postponed all 24 Copa Del Rey games scheduled for Wednesday. – Guardian