The death toll from a collision late on Sunday in southern Spain between a derailing high-speed train and a second oncoming train has risen to 39, Spanish broadcaster RTVE reported on Monday, citing police sources.
The incident happened at 7.45pm local time (6.45pm Irish time) on Sunday near Adamuz in the province of Cordoba, about 360km south of the capital Madrid. An Iryo train running between Málaga and Madrid went off the rails and slammed into a service from Madrid to Huelva, according to Spanish rail operator Adif.
More than 200 trains between Madrid and the southern Andalucia region – including major cities Cordoba, Seville and Granada – have been cancelled throughout Monday, according to RTVE.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has cleared out his agenda for the day, his office said in a statement on Monday.
Red Cross members working after Sunday night’s train crash in Adamuz, southern Spain. Photograph: Jorge Guerrero/ AFP via Getty Images
Video from the scene shared on social media on Sunday showed rescuers pulling passengers from twisted carriages lying on their side under the glare of floodlights. Some passengers climbed out of smashed windows, while others were wheeled away on stretchers.
[ ‘Extremely strange’: Experts baffled by deadly high-speed train crash in SpainOpens in new window ]
There were about 400 passengers on the two trains, most of them Spaniards travelling back to and from Madrid after the weekend. It was unclear how many tourists could be onboard as January is not holiday season in Spain.
The cause for the crash is not yet known, Spanish transport minister Oscar Puente told reporters at a press conference at Atocha station in Madrid on Sunday
An Iryo train running between Málaga and Madrid went off the rails and slammed into a service from Madrid to Huelva, according to Spanish rail operator Adif.
Iryo is an Italian-run private rail operator. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The regional Civil Protection chief, María Belén Moya Rojas, told Canal Sur that the incident happened in an area that is hard to reach.
Local people were taking blankets and water to the scene to help the victims, she said.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that she was following “the terrible news” from Córdoba.
“Tonight you are in my thoughts,” she wrote in Spanish.
Salvador Jiménez, a journalist for state-run broadcaster RTVE who was on board the train to Madrid, shared images showing the rear carriage of the train lying on its side, with evacuated passengers sitting on the side of the carriage. – Reuters, AP