Train collision in Spain: the testimony of an El País journalist present on a train during the accident

By Antonio Jiménez Barça and Manuel Viejo (El País)

Right after the collision, while rescue teams had not yet arrived, people inside the train were screaming. In the dining car, the passengers were thrown by the shock. Blows to the head, people falling on top of each other, a broken arm... When leaving the train, just a few minutes after the accident, the victims scattered and sat in the middle of the fields. The first measures taken after the collision between two high-speed trains, an AVE traveling in the direction of Seville, and an Iryo, this Wednesday between Los Yébenes and Urda, in the province of Toledo (center of the country), consisted of evacuating the passengers, leaving the scene and calling their loved ones.

Around 11 a.m., many doctors had already treated dozens of injured people. The police forces identify the passengers, who help each other and try to reassure each other...