A total of 30 deaths have been confirmed so far from the high-speed train crash near Toledo, Spain, on Wednesday, the Castilla-La Mancha regional government said, as emergency crews carried out rescue and recovery operations at the scene.
The accident occurred on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed rail line near Urda, where a Renfe AVE train and an Iryo train collided, prompting a major emergency response involving local, regional and national authorities.Footage from regional Castilla-La Mancha Television showed a derailed train with at least one carriage remaining on an elevated section of track while twisted metal, broken panels and wreckage could be seen strewn across an embankment beneath the line.
Miguel, a passenger travelling with several colleagues in the rear car of one of the trains, described to Cope Radio the moment of the accident.
“We heard a massive roar, a truly enormous thud that went on for 10 seconds, as if the train were about to derail. Through the right-hand window, we could see a wrecked train — I imagine it must have been the other one,” he said.
Death toll likely to rise
Castilla-La Mancha region spokesperson Esther Padilla said the number of casualties was likely to rise.
“The latest confirmed figure is 10 dead, but we know it is going to increase. Very likely we will be talking about a higher number,” Padilla said, adding that several carriages had plunged down an embankment.
She said 147 people had been travelling on the Iryo train and 397 on the Renfe train.
The collision comes nine months after an accident between high-speed trains belonging to the same operators on the same line that killed 46 people.
That crash in January, which occurred after a train derailed and smashed into an oncoming train near Adamuz, in Cordoba province, triggered a debate about the level of investment in railway maintenance in recent years.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s agenda, published on the Spanish government’s website, had been cleared for the day. The opposition People’s Party also cancelled all campaign events ahead of a snap election on November 29, a spokesperson said.
