Key takeaways:
- At least 10 people died in Wednesday’s collision in Toledo province, and officials warned the toll could rise.
- The trains were traveling from Madrid toward Seville when one struck the rear of the other, derailing two cars.
- NPR reported that 397 passengers were aboard the Renfe train and 147 were aboard the Iryo train.
At least 10 people were killed Wednesday when a high-speed train struck the rear of another that had stopped on a line in central Spain, derailing two cars, authorities said. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
“That number will surely rise,” Esther Padilla, a spokeswoman for the Castilla La Mancha region, said of the death toll.
The two trains were traveling in the same direction, from Madrid toward Seville, when one hit the back of the other in Toledo province, Padilla told Spanish state broadcaster TVE. The impact knocked two cars of the stationary train off the tracks, she said.
The collision happened just after 9 a.m. local time, according to Spain’s state-owned rail infrastructure manager, ADIF, NBC News reported. ADIF said service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia, according to NPR.
The trains were operated by Spain’s state-owned Renfe and private rail company Iryo. Padilla said 397 passengers were aboard the Renfe train and 147 were aboard the Iryo train, NPR reported. Authorities had not established what caused the crash, she said.
Emergency crews responded at the scene. Manuel Galán, mayor of the nearby town of Urda, told TVE that civil protection authorities had asked the town hall to prepare a sports pavilion to receive passengers. Injuries were reported, but neither account gave a total. Renfe said it had set up an emergency phone line to help victims’ families.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was “deeply saddened” by the collision. Emergency services “are working on-site to assist those affected and ensure their safety, in coordination with all relevant authorities,” he wrote on X.
“My heartfelt sympathy, solidarity, and support go out to all the victims and their families,” Sánchez added. Castilla La Mancha’s regional president, Emiliano García-Page, said he was heading to the crash site, NPR reported.
The crash follows another deadly collision involving trains operated by Renfe and Iryo in January. In that accident in southern Spain, a train derailed and hit an oncoming train, killing 45 people. It was Spain’s deadliest rail crash since a 2013 accident that killed 80.
Spain has Europe’s largest high-speed rail network for trains traveling faster than 155 mph, with more than 1,900 miles of track, according to European Union figures cited by NBC News.
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