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At least 39 people have been killed after two high-speed trains collided in southern Spain. Authorities fear the death toll may rise.
The country’s Minister of Transport, Oscar Puente, said that many more passengers are being treated in hospital with serious injuries.
A high-speed train from Malaga to Madrid derailed near an area called Adamuz near the city of Córdoba, rail network operator Adif said.
The train derailed onto another line and collided head-on with another train from Madrid to Huelva.
Andalusia’s emergency services said at least 73 people were injured in the accident.
Spain’s Transport Minister Puente said the incident was “very unusual”, as the train derailed on a straight line. The railway line was renovated in May last year.
The exact cause of the accident is not yet known. The investigation is expected to take at least a month to complete.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the country was going through a “night of deep mourning”. The train from Malaga was operated by the private rail company Erio.
Erio said there were about 300 passengers on that train. And the other train operated by the state-owned railway company Renfe had about 100 passengers.
Adamuz Mayor Rafael Moreno arrived at the scene early after the accident. He said the scene was “like a nightmare”.
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In a post on social media X (formerly Twitter), Andalusia’s emergency agency urged passengers who survived the crash to post on social media that they are safe and alive.
The rescue workers said that due to the twisted parts of the train, it has become very difficult to rescue the living people and bodies.
“We had to first remove a dead person to rescue someone alive. The job is very difficult and risky,” Córdoba’s fire service chief Francisco Carmona told the country’s state TV RTVE.
According to Adif, the accident happened about 10 minutes after the train left Malaga at 6:40 pm local time.
Special arrangements have been made at Madrid’s Atocha, Seville, Córdoba, Malaga and Huelva stations for relatives of the dead and injured.
All train services between Madrid and Andalusia have been suspended following the accident, which will remain closed until Monday. Stations will remain open for affected passengers.
A spokesman for Italian rail company Ferrovie dello Stato told Reuters the train involved in the accident was a Freccia 1000 model, which can travel at a maximum speed of 400 kilometers per hour.
The Spanish Red Cross is participating in emergency aid and rescue operations at the scene. Besides, counseling has also been arranged for the families affected by the accident.
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Red Cross official Miguel Ángel Rodríguez told RNE radio, “Families are in great anxiety because of the lack of information. This is a very difficult time.”
RTVE journalist Salvador Jimenez was on one of the trains involved in the accident.
He said, the shock was like an earthquake. “I was in the first compartment. Suddenly it felt like an earthquake, and then the train derailed.”
In a post on social media X, Jimenez said that he was among the passengers who were waiting for the bus amid the severe cold.
Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia expressed deep concern at the news of the accident.
“We express our deepest condolences to the families and relatives of the deceased. We wish the injured a speedy recovery,” the palace said in a statement.
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also expressed grief over the accident.
“I am with the families of the victims and the people of all of Spain,” Emmanuel Macron said.
Earlier in 2013, the country’s worst state-owned high-speed train accident occurred in Spain’s Galicia region. At that time 80 people were killed and 140 people were injured.
