A high-speed train slammed into the rear of a stationary train on Wednesday, October 28, in central Spain, derailing two carriages and k!lling at least 64 people.
The central government’s office for Castilla-La Mancha confirmed the rising death toll. Emiliano García-Page, the regional president of Castilla-La Mancha, reported that at least 80 people were injured as emergency personnel continued searching the wreckage for survivors and victims.
The disaster marks Spain’s second major rail accident of the year.
According to Spain’s rail system operator, ADIF, the crash occurred Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo. The collision involved two high-speed trains carrying hundreds of passengers, both traveling in the same direction from Madrid to Seville.
Esther Padilla, a spokesperson for the Castilla-La Mancha region, stated that a state-owned RENFE train ran into the tail-end of a stopped private IRYO train, knocking two cars off the tracks. Rail service between Madrid, Ciudad Real, and Andalusia was suspended.
The impact occurred along a flat stretch surrounded by olive fields between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes, reducing one rail car to a mass of twisted metal and scattering debris down a gravel slope.
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García noted that emergency teams prioritized extracting survivors and bodies from the most heavily damaged carriages.
“It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy,” García said.
The collision involved a RENFE AVE train carrying 397 passengers and an IRYO train with 147 passengers. Regional officials reported that 24 fatalities occurred on the RENFE service and six on the IRYO train, with the remainder under ongoing accounting.
