The death toll from a high-speed train collision in central Spain has risen to 68, with dozens more injured in one of the country’s deadliest rail disasters in 13 years.
The crash occurred shortly after 9am on Wednesday when a train travelling from Madrid to Seville struck a stationary train, sending several carriages tumbling down an embankment.
The collision happened about 140 kilometres south of Madrid, between the municipalities of Mora and Orgaz.
Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a computer failure followed by human error may have contributed to the crash. He also questioned a decision by a control centre in Madrid to allow trains to resume movement without speed restrictions after the incident.
The stationary train, operated by private rail company Iryo, was carrying 147 passengers when it stopped on the tracks following a reported computer failure.
Iryo said its train was struck from behind by a Renfe train operated by Spain’s state-owned railway company. The Renfe train was carrying 397 passengers.
Survivors described scenes of panic as passengers were thrown around, trapped beneath seats and forced to smash windows to escape the wreckage.
A 62-year-old passenger, Salvador Arriza, told Reuters the impact was brutal, leaving some travellers unable to move because they were trapped among the seats.
Another survivor, 22-year-old Tangui Binier, told the BBC that suitcases flew through the train as passengers screamed before it came to a halt.
Binier said he encountered smoke and confusion after escaping and saw a carriage that had completely overturned. He also recounted how his father helped carry a girl with a broken hip out of the wreckage.
One carriage caught fire, while other passengers were left crying and bleeding amid twisted metal and debris. Images from the scene showed a section of railway track piercing through one of the carriages.
Emergency teams continued responding to the disaster as authorities faced growing questions about the cause of the collision and the decisions made before the crash.
