A high-speed train collision in central Spain has left at least 68 people dead and dozens more injured, marking one of Europe’s worst rail disasters in recent history and Spain’s deadliest in 13 years.
The crash occurred Wednesday morning when a Madrid-to-Seville service slammed into a stationary train approximately 140 kilometers south of the capital. The impact sent several carriages tumbling down an embankment.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente attributed the catastrophe to a computer system failure compounded by human error. The stationary train, operated by private carrier Iryo with 147 passengers aboard, had halted on the tracks due to a technical malfunction. According to Puente, Madrid’s 24-hour control center subsequently issued an “inexplicable” directive for trains to resume movement without speed restrictions.
The moving train, operated by state-owned Renfe and carrying 397 passengers, struck the Iryo service from behind. Survivors described a scene of chaos: passengers thrown violently, trapped in mangled wreckage, and forced to smash windows to escape. One carriage caught fire, and images from the site show a section of rail track piercing through a carriage.
“The force of the crash was brutal,” said 62-year-old passenger Salvador Arriza, who was aboard the Renfe train. “Passengers started breaking the windows to get out. Some people couldn’t move because they were trapped amongst the seats.”
Emergency responders continue to work at the scene as authorities investigate the precise sequence of failures that led to the disaster.