Train collision in Spain kills 64 and injures 80
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Pmnewsnigeria, Le Monde and TimesLIVE
The collision of two high-speed trains near Urda, south of Madrid, has killed at least 64 people and injured 80, several dozen of them seriously, according to the BBC and Pmnewsnigeria. The trains were carrying 544 passengers and the cause remains unknown, reports Le Monde. TimesLIVE adds that a signalling problem may have preceded the crash and recalls that a similar collision killed 46 people nine months earlier.
The private Iryo train is said to have stopped near Toledo on ADIF’s orders, due to a signalling problem, before being hit by the Renfe train, according to a person familiar with the accident cited by TimesLIVE. Renfe, however, says its train had been authorised to continue and hit the Iryo convoy, which had remained stationary “for reasons we do not know”. The exact sequence of events must be established by the investigation.
Rescue operations continued, with teams searching the carriages one by one. Witnesses described carriages falling onto an embankment, scattered debris and a fire in one carriage. One passenger said he heard a dull noise for about 10 seconds before seeing the crashed train, reports TimesLIVE.
The accident occurred nine months after a collision between trains operated by the same companies, on the same line, which killed 46 people near Adamuz, in the province of Cordoba. A preliminary report by Spain’s Civil Guard had raised possible defects in the track, rail or a weld in February, while retaining seven other hypotheses, according to TimesLIVE.
Renfe set up a special line for the victims’ families and Iryo activated its emergency protocols. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was travelling to the scene, while the People’s Party cancelled its campaign rallies ahead of the 29 November elections. Recorded railway accidents in Spain rose from 45 in 2016 to 69 last year, according to the Spanish railway safety authority.
