Scene of Deadly High-Speed Train Crash in Spain
Scene of Deadly High-Speed Train Crash in Spain
SPAIN — Emergency crews and investigators are at the scene of a devastating high-speed train crash that reportedly claimed the lives of 39 people. Rescue teams worked through difficult conditions to assist survivors, recover victims, and secure the area following the tragic incident.
Spanish police said Monday that at least 39 people are confirmed dead in a high-speed train collision the previous night in the south of the country, as efforts to recover the bodies continue with authorities expecting the death toll to rise.
The crash occurred Sunday at 7:45 p.m. local time when the tail end of a train carrying some 300 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the rails. It slammed into an incoming train travelling from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city, according to rail operator Adif.
The head of the second train, which was carrying nearly 200 passengers, took the brunt of the impact, Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said. That collision knocked its first two carriages off the track and sent them plummeting down a four-metre slope. Puente said that it appeared the largest number of the deaths occurred in those carriages.
“It is likely (that there will be more dead people found) when you look at the mass of metal that is there. The firefighters have done a great job, but unfortunately when they get the heavy machinery to lift the carriages it is probable we will find more victims.”
“Here at ground zero, when you look at this mass of twisted iron, you see the violence of the impact.”
‘Felt like an earthquake’
Video and photos showed twisted train cars lying on their sides under floodlights. Passengers reported climbing out of smashed windows, with some using emergency hammers to break the windows, according to Salvador Jiménez, a journalist for Spanish broadcaster RTVE, who was on board one of the derailed trains.
He told the network by phone Sunday that “there was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed.”
Sports centre serves as makeshift hospital
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his condolences to the victims’ families. “Tonight is a night of deep pain for our country,” he wrote on X.
In Adamuz, a sports centre was turned into a makeshift hospital and the Spanish Red Cross set up a help centre offering assistance to emergency services and people seeking information. Members of Spain’s civil guard and civil defence worked on site throughout the night.
