At least 68 people were killed when two high-speed trains collided south of Madrid on Wednesday, one of the deadliest rail disasters in Europe this century.
The crash happened near the village of Urda in Toledo province, in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha, when a train run by state operator Renfe ran into a service operated by private company Iryo. Iryo said its train, carrying 147 passengers and five crew, was struck from behind.
Regional officials said more than 100 people were injured, with 58 taken to hospital and 15 of them in critical condition. Several carriages were left lying on their side at the bottom of an embankment.
Speaking at the scene, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised that investigators would establish the cause and that any negligence would be exposed. He declared three days of national mourning from Oct 29 to 31, saying it was unacceptable for Spain to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in a single year.
In January, a collision between two high-speed trains near Adamuz in Cordoba killed 46 people. Both crashes took place on the Madrid to Seville line, the country’s first high-speed route. Sanchez said early indications suggest the two accidents had different causes, but that it is for independent investigators and the courts to decide.
Opposition People’s Party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo called for immediate government and judicial investigations and an independent review of the entire rail network. The main high-speed line from Madrid to the south was suspended after the crash, which comes a month before Spain’s early general election on Nov 29.