At least 64 people died and dozens were injured after two high-speed trains collided and derailed in Spain the morning of Oct. 28, local officials said.
The rear-end crash happened at about 9:15 a.m. local time in the Toledo province, south of the country's capital of Madrid, on a line connecting Seville.
"Shocked by the serious train accident in Toledo," the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on X. "Emergency services are working on the ground to assist those affected and ensure their safety, in coordination with all the involved administrations. My affection, solidarity, and support to all the victims and their families."
Rescue personnel work at the site of the collision Wednesday of two high-speed trains between the towns of Mora and Orgaz, near Toledo, Spain. At least 64 people were killed.
Footage from regional Castilla-La Mancha Television showed a derailed train with at least one carriage remaining on an elevated section of track while twisted metal, broken panels and wreckage could be seen strewn across an embankment beneath the line.
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Óscar Puente, the country's transportation minister, told reporters the train's control system failed due to a "computer communication issue," Reuters reported.
"In Urda, we continue working in coordinated fashion with the rest of the administrations on what is currently the most important priority: attending to the affected individuals and their families," Castilla-La Mancha President Emiliano GarcÃa-Page wrote on X. "These are very tough times, and I want to express my gratitude for the work being carried out by the security and health services, as well as the assistance being provided by neighboring autonomous communities."
An injured person waits to board a bus to following the deadly collision Wednesday of two high-speed trains between the towns of Mora and Orgaz, in Urda, Spain.
Miguel, a passenger traveling with several colleagues in the rear car of one of the trains, described to COPE radio the moment of the accident.
"We heard a massive roar, a truly enormous thud that went on for 10 seconds, as if the train were about to derail. Through the right-hand window, we could see a wrecked train – I imagine it must have been the other one," he said.
The collision comes on the heels of another deadly crash between high-speed trains belonging to the same operators on the same line, regional authorities said.
Forty-six people died in the January crash, which took place after a train derailed and smashed into an oncoming train near Adamuz, in Cordoba province.
