At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday morning when a high-speed train slammed into the rear of another train that had stopped on the Madrid-Seville line in the province of Toledo, in central Spain, authorities said. The Associated Press and Reuters both reported the confirmed toll, and regional officials warned it was expected to rise.

Esther Padilla, spokeswoman for the Castilla-La Mancha region, told state broadcaster TVE that the two trains were heading in the same direction from Madrid to Seville when one ran into the tail of the other while it was stopped, knocking two of its cars off the track. She said authorities could confirm 10 deaths, but that "that number will surely rise."

Padilla said 397 passengers were travelling on the state-owned Renfe train and 147 passengers were on the train operated by the private company Iryo. Several carriages plunged down an embankment, according to the regional government.

10+Confirmed dead, toll expected to rise
397Passengers on the Renfe train
147Passengers on the Iryo train

Spain's rail infrastructure operator ADIF said rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia after the crash. The cause of the collision was not yet known.

Manuel Galan, mayor of the nearby town of Urda, told TVE that passengers had been injured and that civil protection authorities had asked his town hall to prepare a sports pavilion to attend to passengers. The regional president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano Garcia-Page, wrote on X that he was on his way to the crash site, and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez cleared his scheduled engagements to monitor the emergency, according to reports.

Second deadly crash on the line in less than a year

Trains from Renfe and Iryo were also involved in a deadly crash in January near Adamuz, in Cordoba province, when a train jumped the track and hit an oncoming train. The Associated Press said 45 people died in that January crash, the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people, and that it had shaken confidence in the country's extensive high-speed rail network.

Emergency crews remained at the scene near Urda on Wednesday, and officials said further confirmed figures on the dead and injured were expected as the response continued.