A tragic train collision in southern Spain has left at least 40 people dead and dozens more injured, prompting a three-day national mourning period. The incident occurred on Sunday evening when a high-speed train carrying around 300 passengers from Madrid to the southern city of Huelva derailed and collided with an oncoming train near the town of Adamuz in Córdoba province.
Rescue efforts continued throughout the night as emergency services worked to extract victims from the twisted, scattered wreckage. Some passengers managed to escape the overturned carriages on their own, using emergency hammers to break through windows. However, the impact of the collision was so severe that authorities warned the death toll was likely to rise further as search teams combed the remote area.
“It was a tremendously tough, sad night,” said Rafael Moreno, the mayor of Adamuz, who was among the first to arrive at the scene. “Some carriages are in a very deteriorated, very regrettable state. I’m told it’s a twisted wreck, which makes things very difficult.”
Grieving families and friends of those on board the ill-fated trains flocked to hospitals across the region, desperate for news of their loved ones. Juan Barroso said five members of his extended family had been on the Madrid-bound train, with only a six-year-old child accounted for so far.
“Now we’re searching for the four who are missing,” Barroso told reporters. “We’ve been all over. All of the hospitals in Jaén, Úbeda and in Córdoba.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the site on Monday and vowed that the investigation into the cause of the crash would be “full and transparent.” While the precise cause has yet to be determined, authorities noted that the section of track had been renovated just last May, and the train involved was less than four years old and had been inspected four days prior to the incident.
The devastating collision has shocked the nation, where the high-speed rail network is a source of national pride. With nearly 4,000 kilometres of track, Spain boasts the largest high-speed rail network in Europe and the second-largest in the world after China.
“Spanish society, like all of us, is wondering what happened, how it happened, how this tragedy could have occurred,” Sánchez said. “And I’m convinced that time and the work of experts will provide us with those answers.”