Train Crash in Spain Kills at Least 68
A high-speed train ran into the back of another that had stopped on the Madrid-Andalusia line near Urda, in Toledo province. Officials say the toll may rise as rescuers search the wreckage.
At least 68 people were killed when a high-speed train struck the back of another, stationary high-speed train near Urda, in Spain's Toledo province, according to the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha. Several carriages fell down an embankment. The toll may rise: rescuers had not yet reached the bottom of some carriages, regional leader Emiliano García-Page said. Fifteen of the injured were in serious condition. The moving train, run by state-owned Renfe, was carrying 397 passengers; the stopped train, run by private operator Iryo, had 147. Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a signaling system had failed and that Madrid's control center then told trains to resume, a decision he called "inexplicable." The cause is under investigation. It is Spain's second deadly high-speed crash this year; 46 people died in the first, on the same line. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said two such crashes in one year were "unacceptable."
The crash
Both trains were traveling south from Madrid toward Andalusia on the same high-speed line, according to the BBC and The Guardian. The Iryo train had stopped; the Renfe train struck it from behind, knocking carriages off the track near Urda, in Toledo province, The Guardian and RTVE reported. Several carriages fell down an embankment, according to the BBC and The Guardian. The two trains carried 544 people, according to The Guardian; the BBC reported 397 on the Renfe train and 147 on the Iryo train.
The toll
The Castilla-La Mancha government put the toll at 68, according to The Guardian, ABC (Spain) and RTVE. García-Page said more victims could be found under the carriages, according to The Guardian and ABC. Fifteen people were in serious condition, The Guardian and ABC reported.
What officials say happened
Puente said the LZB signaling system, which automatically stops a train when the line ahead is occupied, went down at about 8:30 a.m. because of a computer failure, halting trains on a stretch of about 60 km, according to The Guardian and RTVE. A 24-hour control center in Madrid then took over and instructed trains to resume, Puente said, according to the BBC and The Guardian. "It was the control centre, through its operators, that made the decision to resume traffic, under circumstances that, from our point of view, are inexplicable," Puente said, according to The Guardian; the BBC also reported he called the decision "inexplicable." The cause is under investigation.
Reaction
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said it was "unacceptable" for Spain to have two high-speed crashes in one year, according to the BBC and The Guardian. In January, 46 people were killed in a collision on the same line, near Adamuz in Andalusia, which also involved Renfe and Iryo trains, the BBC and The Guardian reported. Opposition People's Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo called for an investigation, saying Spain "has the right to know" what is happening with its infrastructure, according to the BBC and The Guardian.