URDA, Spain — At least 68 people were killed when one high-speed Spanish train slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks near Urda on Wednesday, the regional government for Castilla-La Mancha confirmed, in a further rise from the toll of at least 64 reported earlier. Another 58 people needed medical treatment in hospital, and rescue workers continue to search the wreckage for survivors and bodies, the Associated Press reported.
Source: Associated Press
Spain's rail operator ADIF said the crash occurred on Wednesday morning in Toledo province, between two high-speed trains carrying hundreds of passengers and heading in the same direction from Madrid to Seville. A train run by state-owned Renfe ran into the tail of a train run by private company Iryo that had stopped, knocking two of its cars off the track in a rural area between Urda and Los Yebenes, AP reported. Rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.
Source: Associated Press
Minister cites an 'inexplicable' restart order
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the crash followed what he called the 'inexplicable' order from a central command centre after a security system failed, and said the train engineers were not to blame, AP reported. Puente said that at 8:30 a.m. the security system on a stretch of 63 kilometres stopped working due to a computer malfunction, causing all trains on that stretch to stop, but the central command then told the Renfe train to start running again without any speed restrictions, and it collided with the stopped Iryo train at 8:53 a.m.
Source: Associated Press
Puente said the train should never have been told to start moving again since a stop signal was still active on that line, and if it had been, it should at least have been told to go at reduced speed. He said investigators were still studying how fast the train was going, but it could have been at 200 kph on that stretch. 'I am not attributing responsibility to anyone, I am just stating the facts,' Puente said, according to AP. The Maltese Herald, in its updated report, also said Puente had pointed to a serious failure in railway traffic management following a malfunction in the signalling system, after which the Renfe train was reportedly authorised to resume its journey while the Iryo train remained stationary, and said the circumstances remain under investigation.
Source: The Maltese Herald
Regional spokesperson Esther Padilla said 397 passengers were on the Renfe train and 147 passengers were on the Iryo train, AP reported. Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said emergency workers were focusing on rescuing survivors and bodies from the two most damaged train cars, and that the injured were being sent to different hospitals in the area.
Source: Associated Press
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez cancelled his agenda to focus on the crash and said on X that he was dismayed by the serious train accident in Toledo, AP reported. King Felipe VI visited the crash site, a military emergency brigade was deployed to help emergency services, and Spain's soccer federation postponed all 24 Copa del Rey games scheduled on Wednesday, according to AP.
Source: Associated Press
Second deadly crash this year
It was Spain's second deadly rail collision this year, AP reported. In January, 46 people died in southern Spain in a crash involving trains from the same two companies, Iryo and Renfe. That crash was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people, according to AP.
Source: Associated Press
All casualty figures in this update remain provisional while rescue and recovery work continues at the wreckage, and authorities have warned the toll could change.