Spain train accident: At least 39 people killed after two high-speed trains collide in Cordoba - south of Madrid
At least 39 people have been killed after a high-speed train derailed and smashed into another oncoming train in southern Spain.
The smash pushed the second train off the tracks and down an embankment. The accident happened near Adamuz in the province of Cordoba, about 360km (223 miles) south of the capital Madrid on Sunday night.
Of 75 people hospitalised, 15 are in serious condition, the chief of Andalucia's regional government, Juanma Moreno, told reporters early on Monday. "The forcefulness of the accident has been very strong ... we will likely find (more) corpses," Mr Moreno said in comments before the death toll leapt from 21 to 39 overnight, as more bodies were recovered.
Video from the scene shared on social media showed rescuers pulling passengers from twisted carriages lying on their side under the glare of floodlights. Some passengers climbed out of smashed windows, while others were wheeled away on stretchers.
El Pais newspaper reported that the 27-year-old driver of the Madrid-to-Huelva train, the one that was struck, was among the dead. There were around 400 passengers on the two trains, most of them Spaniards travelling back to and from Madrid after the weekend.
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.”
It was unclear how fast the first train was travelling when it derailed. The cause for the crash is not yet known, Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente told reporters at a press conference at Atocha station in Madrid, adding it was "really strange" that a derailment should have happened on a straight stretch of track. This section of track was renewed in May, he added.
The accident happened at 7.45pm (6.45pm GMT), about 10 minutes after the Iryo train left Cordoba heading towards Madrid, authorities said. An Iryo-operated train travelling from Malaga to Madrid derailed, smashing into the Renfe train travelling from Madrid to Huelva, sending it careering down a railway embankment.
The Iryo train had more than 300 passengers on board, while the Renfe train had around 100.