Train disaster in Spain. Human error could have been to blame

The Ministry of Transport and the Adif company, responsible for the railway infrastructure, are analyzing the hypothesis that the cause of the disaster in the province of Toledo could have been "human error of an Adif employee" while repairing a failure of the main signaling system, reports the daily "El Pais".

According to preliminary findings, one of the trains stopped or slowed down significantly a few minutes before the accident due to traffic problems on the line, the 20minutos portal reported. Then he was hit from behind by a train traveling from Madrid to Seville. Passengers who called Cadena SER public radio reported a "powerful impact."

Huge rescue operation

The authorities of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, in which the province of Toledo is located, asked a military rescue unit for support in the rescue operation. The Civil Guard sent all available forces to the site, evacuating the injured and helping medics reach the site of the disaster.

The Madrid Blood Donation and Transfusion Center appealed for urgent blood donation.

“People started running, some were crying, and there were bodies everywhere under the trains.”

"El Pais" journalist Antonio Jimenez Barca was traveling by train of a public carrier towards Seville. He was in the café car when the collision with the second train occurred.

I felt like someone pushed me hard in the back and I hit my head. I don't think I lost consciousness for a moment, he said, adding that he only suffered minor injuries.

The journalist claims that seriously injured people are treated right at the scene of the accident, and many passengers are simply "staring into nothing" in a state of shock. He also talked about his feelings:

At first you don't want to believe it. Then you gradually realize how terrible what happened to you was and how lucky you were, he explained.

Radio Cadena Ser also talked to Eduarda, who traveled on the Iryo train. I was driving with my two cats when suddenly there was sudden braking and I fell forward together with the seat. People started running, some were crying, and bodies were visible everywhere under the trains. Lots of people couldn't get out, there were screams everywhere... A nightmare, she said.

Eduarda considers herself lucky that nothing happened to her, but she knows she will never forget the "horrific screams" she heard: The worst thing was going outside and seeing the scale of what had happened.

The young woman also has images before her eyes that will be difficult for her to forget: I saw a man with only his legs sticking out because the train was lying on him, people with their faces cut... I saw dead people.

After nine months, another disaster occurred

Reuters reminds that the train collision occurred nine months after a very similar accident. In January, two high-speed trains belonging to the same operators collided on the same line. 46 people died. The disaster, which occurred near Adamuz in the province of Cordoba, has sparked a debate about the level of investment in maintaining the railway network.