On the morning of the 28th (local time), a high-speed train crash occurred near Toledo, south of Madrid, the capital of Spain, killing at least 30 people.
According to AP, AFP, and Reuters, a train belonging to the private railway company Irio and a train belonging to the state-owned railway company Renfe AVE collided near Urda, Toledo region, Castile-La Mancha, at around 9 a.m. on this day.
The two trains reportedly collided near Urda, about 120 km south of Madrid, while departing from Madrid and heading toward Seville, Andalusia.
The number of casualties is not clearly known.
Major foreign media reported that the death toll was at least 30, citing the Castile-La Mancha metropolitan autonomous government. Britain's Sky broadcast reported that at least 39 people were killed, while some Spanish media reported 50 dead and 179 injured.
Ester Padilla, a spokeswoman for Castile-La Mancha, said a total of 544 people were on board, including 397 on the Renfe train and 147 on the Irio train.
It was confirmed that six Koreans were on board the accident train and suffered minor injuries. Lim Su-seok, Ambassador to Spain, told Yonhap News that consular support was being provided to six citizens with minor injuries and that they were continuing to check for additional damage.
The number of deaths is likely to increase.
Health Minister Monica Garcia told TVE that rescue teams were focusing on finding survivors in the two most severely damaged carriages and that the injured were being taken to hospital. He said, “It was a high-speed collision, so a disaster is expected.”
A spokesman for Padilla told state broadcaster TVE that the accident occurred between two high-speed trains traveling from Madrid to Seville, one of which crashed into the rear of the other and went off the track.
ADIF, a railway infrastructure management company, told
Looking at photos and videos from foreign media, several carriages appear to have fallen off the tracks and down the embankment, and a significant portion of the car body appears to have been damaged.
Jesús Jerónimo (54), who was heading to Seville for work on a Renfe train, told the Spanish newspaper El Pais, "People were thrown from the train. It felt like the train had derailed, and when I got out little by little, my train was tilted."
Urda's mayor, Manuel Gallán, told TVE that passengers were injured and that the town's gym had been asked to make space to accommodate them.
The exact circumstances of the accident were not reported.
However, ABC and El Pais, citing sources, said that there appears to have been a human error in not sending a signal about the Irio train in front to the Renfe AVE train that was behind. Reuters also cited sources as saying that it is understood that another high-speed train collided with the Irio train while it was stopping under the direction of railway infrastructure manager ADIF due to a signal problem.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on
Prime Minister Sánchez and the leadership of the main opposition People's Party (PP) postponed their election campaign schedule ahead of the early general elections on the 29th of next year due to the major accident.
King Felipe VI also said in a statement to
This accident occurred nine months after a train crash near Adamus, Córdoba, Andalusia, in January, killing 46 people. As a result of the accident at the time, there were repeated criticisms that there had been insufficient investment in railway maintenance.
About 80 people also died in a train derailment in 2013.
Spain is a country with Europe's largest high-speed rail network, with a total length of over 3,900 km. It is second only to China in the world.
