Witnesses to the train accident: "People were thrown around"

Witnesses also tell of how the railway track was torn apart so that one of the accident cars was completely pierced by a rail, local media reported.

Passenger Ana-María, who was traveling in carriage number six a bit at the back of the AVE train, describes how complete chaos erupted. The force of the collision knocked her over, as did her husband who hit his head badly, she tells the newspaper El País.

Another witness, 54-year-old Jesús Jerónimo, was traveling in the AVE train's number two carriage.

- I was sitting and working on my laptop when I felt a terrible change in speed, and I was thrown into the seat in front of me, he says on the phone to El País.

It was during Wednesday morning that a high-speed train collided with a stationary train near the town of Urda, south of Madrid. At least 64 people are said to be dead and another 50 are being treated in hospital.

Traveler Jesús Jerónimo testifies to the nightmarish chaos that followed the crash.

- People were thrown around, he says and continues:

- Many were injured and people were cut.

With a broken voice, construction worker David Gómez tells the same newspaper how he and his colleagues, who were doing work near the accident site, tried to help.

- We heard the bang and rushed there, he says.

The sports journalist Roberto Gómez was also on board the train and tells his radio channel Onda Cero that he was indeed unharmed, but that "the collision was terrible" and that he was thrown far in the carriage and then managed to get out through a window.

- You can imagine that the wagon was completely destroyed. All the suitcases were scattered. Another passenger, a man with an open wound on his head, fell on top of me. We have been able to help people with severe injuries to the chest and ribs. Yes, you can imagine.