Adamuz, Spain. A high-speed train derailed and collided with an oncoming train in southern Spain on Sunday, killing at least 21 people, Spain’s interior ministry said. The impact pushed the second train off the tracks and down an embankment.
Crash location and casualties
The accident occurred near Adamuz in the province of Cordoba, about 360 km south of Madrid. Of the 75 people hospitalised, 15 were in serious condition, the chief of Andalucia’s regional government, Juanma Moreno, told reporters early on Monday.
Officials warn toll may rise
Moreno said the death toll would likely be more than 20 and warned the number may rise by daylight. He said heavy machinery would be needed to remove wrecked metal pieces of the trains and try to locate any new victims.
Rescue operation and eyewitness accounts
Video shared on social media showed rescuers pulling passengers from twisted carriages lying on their side under floodlights. Some passengers climbed out of smashed windows, while others were wheeled away on stretchers.
“There are many injured. I am still trembling,” Maria San José, 33, a passenger on the Malaga-to-Madrid high-speed train that first derailed, told El Pais. A passenger on the second train, who was not identified, told public broadcaster TVE: “There were people screaming, their bags fell from the shelves. I was travelling to Huelva in the fourth carriage, the last, luckily.”
Passengers and reporting on victims
There were around 400 passengers on the two trains, most of them Spaniards travelling back to and from Madrid after the weekend. It was unclear how many tourists could have been onboard.
El Pais reported that the 27-year-old driver of the Madrid-to-Huelva train, the one that was struck, was among the dead.
What updates have officials provided about the cause of the crash and the identities of the victims?