Two high-speed trains collide in Spain, killing at least 20 people: NPR

BARCELONA, Spain — A high-speed train derailed, jumped the track in the opposite direction and collided with an oncoming train Sunday in southern Spain, killing at least 21 people and injuring dozens, Spain’s transportation minister said.

The end of an evening train between Malaga and Madrid carrying about 300 passengers derailed near Cordoba at 7:45 p.m. local time and collided with a train carrying about 200 passengers coming from Madrid to Huelva, another city in southern Spain, according to rail company Adiv.

Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente updated the death toll to 21 confirmed victims after midnight when he said rescue operations had brought out all survivors. But Puente said there could be more victims who have not yet been confirmed.

Puente said the causes of the accident are unknown. He described the accident as “really strange” because it occurred on a flat track that had been renovated in May. He also said that the train that jumped the track was less than four years old. That train was owned by the private company Aerio, while the second train bore the brunt of the influence of the Spanish public railway company Renfe.

Aerio issued a statement saying it “deeply regrets what happened” and was working with authorities to manage the situation.

The back of the first train derailed and hit the head of the other train, sending the first two cars off the track and landing on a four-metre cliff, Puente said. He added that the worst damage occurred in the front part of the Renfe train.

When reporters asked him how long the investigation into the causes of the accident might take, he said it might take a month.

Antonio Sanz, Andalusia’s regional health chief, said 73 injured passengers were taken to six different hospitals.

Francisco Carmona, Cordoba’s chief firefighter, told Spanish national radio RNE that one of the two trains was severely deformed, causing at least four carriages to derail.

Sanz said the situation at the crash site was “extremely dangerous.” “We have a very difficult night ahead of us.”

Salvador Jimenez, a journalist for Spanish radio 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 actually derailed.”

He said the passengers used emergency hammers to smash the windows, and that some of them walked away without serious injuries. Videos taken by people at the site show some people crawling out of windows at some points to escape the wreckage with the carts tilted at an angle.

The accident occurred in the early evening and hundreds of survivors were rescued in the dark.

The head of regional civil protection, Maria Belen Moya Rojas, told Sur TV that the accident occurred in an area that is difficult to access.

She added that local residents were transporting blankets and water to the scene to help the victims.

High-speed trains, which operate on an extensive national network, are a popular way to travel in Spain.

Spanish military emergency relief units joined the deployment of other rescue units. The Red Cross also provided support to health care officials.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that she was following the “terrible news” from Cordoba.

“Tonight you are in my thoughts,” she wrote in Spanish.

ADIF said train services between Madrid and the cities of Andalusia will not operate on Monday.