Adamuz, Spain. Rescuers worked through Sunday night after a derailed high-speed train crossed tracks and collided with an oncoming service in southern Spain, killing at least 21 people.
Collision near Adamuz
The crash happened around 6:50pm near Adamuz when an Iryo train travelling from Málaga to Madrid derailed about 10 minutes into its journey. The derailed train crashed onto an adjacent track into the path of a Madrid-Huelva service operated by Renfe.
The impact sent the second train down an embankment.
Casualties and hospitalisations
Seventy-five people reached hospital, with 15 fighting for their lives, Andalucía’s regional chief Juanma Moreno said early Monday.
Most victims were in the first two carriages of the Renfe train, which bore the brunt of the collision.
Rescue operation
Passengers smashed carriage windows with emergency hammers to escape. Inside crumpled carriages, rescue teams searched for survivors.
“There are still people trapped,” Córdoba fire chief Paco Carmona told TVE. He said the operation focused on reaching people in narrow areas and that bodies had to be removed to reach anyone still alive, describing the task as complicated.
Passenger accounts
Maria San José, 33, who was aboard the Iryo train, told El País she was still shaking hours later. “There are many injured – I am still trembling,” she said.
One passenger on the second train described chaos after the impact. “There were people screaming, their bags fell from the shelves,” the unidentified traveller told TVE, adding they had been travelling in the fourth carriage and were “the last, luckily.”
A journalist from public broadcaster RNE riding one of the trains said the collision felt like an earthquake. Another passenger, Carmen, wrote on X that her train began shaking violently 10 minutes after leaving Córdoba and that it derailed from coach six behind her, with the lights going out.
In darkened carriages, an Iryo official told passengers to stay in their seats and save phone batteries for torches. One passenger wrote on X: “In our carriage we’re well but we don’t know about the other carriages. There’s smoke and they’re calling for a doctor.”
Investigation
Transport Minister Óscar Puente said investigators had no explanation yet for why a train would derail on straight track. He said the stretch had been renewed in May and called the accident “really strange.”
What questions do you have about the investigation into why the train derailed on straight track?