A high-speed train derailed, jumped onto the track in the opposite direction and slammed into an oncoming train Sunday in southern Spain, killing at least 39 people and injuring dozens more.
The tail end of an evening train travelling from Malaga to Madrid with some 300 passengers came off the rails near Cordoba at 7.45pm local time and slammed into a train with some 200 passengers coming from Madrid to Huelva, according to rail operator Adif.
On Monday morning, Spanish police confirmed 39 people were killed in the crash, and that rescuers were searching for more bodies.
Andalusia regional President Juanma Moreno said 75 passengers were hospitalised, with most taken to the nearby city of Cordoba, including 15 people with serious injuries.
The Spanish Red Cross set up a help centre in the town of Adamuz, near the crash site, offering assistance to emergency services and people seeking information.
Spain’s Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the cause of the crash was unknown, calling it “a truly strange” incident because it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May.
He also said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old.
That train belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train, which took the brunt of the impact, was part of Spain’s public train company Renfe.
Iryo issued a statement saying it “deeply lamented what has happened” and that it was working with authorities to manage the situation.
According to Puente, the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train, knocking its first two carriages off the track and down a 4-metre slope.
He said the worst damage was to the front section of the Renfe train.
When asked by reporters how long an inquiry into the crash’s cause could take, he said it could be a month.
Salvador Jiménez, a journalist for Spanish broadcaster RTVE, was on board one of the derailed trains and told the network by phone that “there was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed.”
He said passengers used emergency hammers to break the windows, and that some had walked away without serious injuries.
Videos from the scene show people crawling out of windows to escape the wreckage with carriages leaning at an angle.
The regional Civil Protection chief, María Belén Moya Rojas, told Canal Sur the crash happened in an area that is hard to reach. She added that local people were taking blankets and water to the scene to help the victims, she said.
“Tonight is one of deep sadness for our country,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X. “I want to express my sincerest condolences to the family and loved ones of the victims.”
Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia also expressed their condolences and concern on social media.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that she was following “the terrible news” from Cordoba.
“Tonight you are in my thoughts,” she wrote in Spanish.
Spain has the largest high-speed rail network in Europe for trains moving over 250 km/h (155 mph), with more than 3,100 kilometres (1,900 miles) of track, according to the European Union.
The network is a popular, competitively priced and safe mode of transport. Renfe said more than 25 million passengers took one of its high-speed trains in 2024.
Adif said train services between Madrid and cities in Andalusia would not run on Monday.
Spain’s worst train derailment this century occurred in 2013, when 80 people died after a train came off the tracks in the country’s northwest.
An investigation concluded the train was travelling 111 mph on a stretch with a 50mph speed limit when it left the tracks.
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