Authorities in Spain reported Monday that at least 39 people have been confirmed dead following a high-speed rail collision in the south of the country. On Sunday, around 7:45 p.m., the tail end of a train jumped the track and caused another train speeding in the opposite direction to derail. Efforts to recover the bodies are still underway, and authorities warned the death toll could rise.
Two Trains Collide
The tail end of the train that was carrying 289 passengers was traveling between two cities in Spain, from Malaga to Madrid, when it went off the rails. It slammed into an oncoming train traveling from Madrid to Huelva. The second train was carrying almost 200 passengers, and the head of it took the brunt of the impact.
The impact of the collision tossed the speeding train’s lead carriages off the track, plummeting them down a 4-meter slope. Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said those two carriages were carrying a majority of the deaths that have occurred. Authorities found some bodies hundreds of meters from the crash site. Juanma Moreno, the Andalusia regional president in Spain, described the wreckage as a “mass of twisted metal.”
As bodies are still being recovered, authorities are also focusing on the hundreds of families who are in distress, asking them to provide DNA samples to help identify the victims. Any surviving victims have been rescued and will soon be reunited with their loved ones.
Mourning The Victims
Following the tragic accident, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared three days of national mourning for the victims involved. “Today is a day of pain for all of Spain,” Sánchez said. The collision shook the nation as it led Europe in high-speed train mileage. It is considered to be cutting-edge rail transport, but now their pride in the network has been knocked down as well.
Various Spaniards whose loved ones were passengers on those two trains posted on social media pleading for information for those unaccounted for. “The scene was horrific. It was terrible,” Adamuz mayor Rafael Moreno told reporters. “People asking and begging for help. Those leaving the wreckage. Images that will always stay in my mind.” The Civil Guard opened an office in the nearest city to the crash site for family members of the missing victims to seek guidance and provide DNA samples.
A Violent Collision in Spain
Moreno made a statement Monday informing the citizens of Spain that emergency services are still trying to locate more bodies. “Here at ground zero, when you look at this mass of twisted iron, you see the violence of the impact,” Moreno said. “The impact was so incredibly violent that we have found bodies hundreds of meters away.”
The Vicil Guard released a video showing the damage done by the collision, and it is every bit as violent as it can be. Carriages were shredded open, train seats were under the tracks, and one carriage was on its side, bent around a concrete pillar. Surviving victims said they climbed out of smashed windows, ws and some had to use the emergency hammers on board.
Officials report that 43 survivors remain hospitalized, with 12 in intensive care units (ICU). Another 79 survivors were discharged Monday afternoon. Future train services running between Madrid and cities in Andalusia for the remainder of the day were cancelled. While this is a large disruption for travelers, airlines and bus companies are adding new route options to assist the stranded passengers.
This troubling time is not easy on anyone. First responders are at the brunt of the accident, officials are calling it ‘strange’. “There were moments when we had to remove the dead to get to the living,” Francisco Carmona, firefighter chief of Cordoba, told Onda Cero radio.
Cause is Unknown
Transport Minister Puente said what caused the collision is unknown, and he referred to it as “a truly strange” incident since it happened on a flat stretch of track, which was renovated less than a year ago. The train that jumped the track belonged to Iryo, an Italian-owned company, and was less than 4 years old, and had recently passed a safety check. The second train was owned by Renfe, Spain’s public train company.
Puente said that the investigation into the collision could take up to a month. They are trying to look for the root cause so that it can be avoided in the future. Álvaro Fernández, the president of Spain’s public train company, already ruled out human error and stated the incident must be related to the moving equipment of Iryo or the infrastructure.”
