Spain started three days of mourning on Thursday after a high-speed train collision killed 68 people and injured many others in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha.
The crash happened on Wednesday morning when a Renfe train hit the back of a stopped Iryo train. Relatives gathered at emergency centres to find news about their loved ones while rescue workers searched through twisted metal at night.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said an automatic control system failed on 69 kilometres of track. He called the decision to restart trains “inexplicable” and said the control centre had enough time to fix the error but did not.
Survivors describe chaos and terror
Josimar Medina (31), a Peruvian tourist travelling with his girlfriend, said he was sleeping when the crash happened. “I woke up and I was in the air,” he told AFP reporters at the scene.
Pablo Mejia (42) escaped with head injuries. Wearing a blood-stained grey jumper and holding his damaged suitcase, he said a last-minute seat change saved his life.
“A very strong hit… a lot of people on the floor, on top of each other, seats ripped out, suitcases, a lot of chaos,” he said. “I think I’ve been born again.”
Emergency services used cranes to lift pieces of wreckage on the main line between Madrid and Seville. AFP reporters saw workers searching through the night for more victims.
Families wait for news
A school in Urda, around 130 kilometres south of Madrid, became a meeting point for relatives seeking information about missing family members.
Red Cross workers helped groups of people who arrived, some crying, as police and journalists from around the world gathered outside.
Red Cross psychologist Carmen Garcia said families faced “long and hard hours” ahead.
“We have people who are in shock, who haven’t taken on board what has happened, angry people, sad, worried people. The grieving will be complicated,” Garcia said.
The Civil Guard set up four offices in Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba and Seville where relatives can provide DNA samples to help identify victims. Blood donation centres opened in Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid.
Jose Miguel Fernandez, a parish priest in Urda, joined emergency teams to support families.
“What matters most is being with the victims’ relatives, that they feel the closeness, because words at a time like this are pointless, but a hug helps,” he said.
Fernandez rushed to the crash site and saw “an image of desolation, despair, uncertainty, death”.
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Second major crash raises safety concerns
The disaster marks Spain’s second deadly high-speed train collision this year. In January, two trains crashed in Andalusia after one derailed and crossed onto the next track, killing 46 people.
The investigation into that accident continues, but the left-wing government faced heavy criticism over railway safety management.
Puente said the control centre decided to “resume traffic in circumstances that, from our point of view, are inexplicable.” The Renfe train travelled 25 km before hitting the Iryo train.
“The control centre had more than enough time to verify the error, and they did not fix it,” he added.
The crash comes one month before Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez faces an early general election on November 29. Polls show unfavourable results for Sanchez, who has served eight years in office.
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