At least 21 people have been killed and 75 injured after a collision of high-speed trains in Spain. As per reports, the incident took place after a derailed train collided with an oncoming train.
As authorities continue to assess the situation, the death toll is expected to rise. Based on a report by the Associated Press, the tail end of an evening train traveling from Malaga to Madrid with some 300 passengers went off the rails near Córdoba at 7:45 p.m. local time and slammed into a train with some 200 passengers coming from Madrid to Huelva.
Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente confirmed that the death toll stood at 21 after midnight, adding that rescuers had removed all the survivors. However, Puente said there could be more victims still to be confirmed.
Andalusia regional President Juanma Moreno has stated that 75 passengers have been admitted to hospitals for their injuries, of which, 15 were admitted with serious injuries.
“We have a very difficult night ahead,” Andalusia’s regional health chief Antonio Sanz told the media.
‘A strange incident’
The cause of the crash remains unknown, but the nature of the accident, as per officials, is ‘very strange’.
Spanish transport minister Puente stated that the accident was “truly strange” since it happened on the stretch of the track which had been renovated in May.
He further added that the train that jumped the track was less than four years old, and belonged to the private company Iryo
The second train, which took the brunt of the impact, was part of Spain’s public train company Renfe. As per Puente, the front section of the second train was hit the worst.
Crash ‘felt like an earthquake’
The derailment of the first train, as per passengers, also felt like n earthquake. 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 added that passengers immediately moved to break the train windows with the emergency hammers and pry their way out of the derailed carriage.