“We felt a very strong hit from behind and the feeling that the whole train was about to collapse, break … there were many injured due to the glass,” passenger Lucas Meriako told Agence France-Presse after a high-speed train derailed in southern Spain on Sunday evening. At least 39 people died.
The crash happened at 7.45pm local time near the village of Adamuz, close to Córdoba. According to rail operator Adif, the rear of a train carrying some 300 passengers from Malaga to Madrid left the rails, crossed onto the opposite track and hit an oncoming service. That second train, with about 200 passengers, was running from Madrid to Huelva.
State broadcaster RTVE, citing the Guardia Civil police force, reported 152 people injured.
A flat stretch of renovated track
Transport minister Óscar Puente said the cause was unknown. He called it “a truly strange” accident, since it occurred on a flat section of track that had been renovated in May, and the train that jumped the rails was less than four years old.
That train belonged to the private operator Iryo. The other was a Renfe train, run by Spain’s public rail company. Puente said the back of the first train came off and struck the head of the second, knocking its first two carriages off the track and down a four-metre slope. The front section of the Renfe train took the worst of it. Asked how long an inquiry might last, he said it could be a month.
Iryo said it “deeply lamented what has happened” and was working with the authorities.
Escape and rescue in the dark
RTVE journalist Salvador Jimenez was aboard one of the derailed trains. He told the network by phone that “there was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed”. Passengers smashed windows with emergency hammers, and some walked away without serious injury. Video from the scene shows people crawling out of windows beside carriages tilted at an angle.
Hundreds of survivors had to be rescued in darkness. Francisco Carmona, the Córdoba firefighter chief, told RNE radio that one train was badly mangled, with at least four wagons off the rails.
Adamuz mayor Rafael Moreno told EL PAÍS he was among the first to reach the scene with local police. He said he saw what he believed to be a badly lacerated body several metres from the wreck.
The Spanish Red Cross opened a help centre in Adamuz for emergency services and people looking for information. Civil Guard and Civil Defence crews worked through the cold, cloudless night, joined by military emergency relief units. Andalusia regional president Juanma Moreno said workers would keep removing bodies from the wreckage until morning. “We have a very difficult night ahead,” said regional health chief Antonio Sanz.
Disruption and condolences
More than 200 trains between Madrid and Andalucia, including services to Córdoba, Seville and Granada, were cancelled for Monday, RTVE reported.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez cleared his Monday agenda, his office said. “Tonight is one of deep sadness for our country,” he wrote on X, offering his condolences to the victims’ families. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia also expressed condolences and concern on social media.
According to the European Union, Spain has Europe’s largest high-speed network for trains above 250km/h, with more than 3,100km of track.
