Madrid: At least 21 passengers were killed after a high-speed train derailed and smashed into another one in southern Spain on Sunday. The collision that occurred near Adamuz in the Cordoba province, pushed the second train off the tracks, as reported by Reuters.
While 21 passengers have been confirmed dead, nearly 100 are injured, 25 of them seriously, state broadcaster Television Española reported. Among those killed was the driver of one of the trains that was travelling from Madrid to Huelva.
“The Iryo 6189 Malaga – (to Madrid) train has derailed from the track at Adamuz, crashing onto the adjacent track. The (Madrid) to Huelva train, which was travelling on the adjacent track, has also derailed,” said Adif, which runs the rail network, in a social media post.
Adif said the accident happened at 6.40 pm (1740 GMT), about 10 minutes after the Iryo train left Cordoba heading towards Madrid. Iryo is a private rail operator, majority-owned by Italian state-controlled railway group Ferrovie dello Stato.
According to Ferrovie dello Stato, the train involved was a Freccia 1000, travelling between Malaga and Madrid. The second train was operated by Renfe. While the Iryo train had more than 300 passengers, there were about 100 people on the Renfe one.
Cordoba fire chief Paco Carmona told TVE that the first train heading to Madrid from Malaga had been evacuated. The other train’s carriages were badly damaged though, with twisted metal and seats, he said.
“There are still people trapped. We don’t know how many people have died, and the operation is concentrating on getting people out of areas which are very narrow,” he said.
“We have to remove the bodies to reach anyone who is still alive. It is proving to be a complicated task,” he added.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said he was following events from rail operator Adif’s headquarters in Madrid.
“The latest information is very serious,” he posted on X. “The impact was terrible, causing the first two carriages of the Renfe train to be thrown off the track. The number of victims cannot be confirmed at this time. The most important thing now is to help the victims.”
The mayor of Adamuz, Rafael Moreno, told El País newspaper that he had been among the first to arrive at the scene of the accident alongside the local police and saw what he believed to be a badly lacerated body several metres from the accident site.
“The scene is horrific,” he said. “I don’t think they were on the same track, but it’s not clear. Now the mayors and residents of the area are focused on helping the passengers.”
Images on local television showed a reception centre set up for passengers in the town of Adamuz that has a population of 5,000. Locals are seen coming and going with food and blankets as the nighttime temperatures dips to around 6°C.
