Spain faces demands for answers after train collision kills at least 68

At least 68 people were killed when two high-speed trains collided south of Madrid on Wednesday, according to BBC News and Al Jazeera, prompting demands for answers over Spain’s railway safety. BBC News described it as the country’s deadliest rail disaster in 13 years.

The reports differ in how they describe the injury toll: Al Jazeera reported more than 100 injured, while BBC News said dozens. The collision involved a Renfe train travelling from Madrid to Seville and an Iryo train ahead of it on the same line, according to the BBC.

BBC News reported that the Renfe service struck the stationary Iryo train from behind between Mora and Orgaz, around 140km south of the capital. Several carriages fell down an embankment, and one carriage caught fire.

Minister points to system failure and human error

Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a computer failure had forced trains to stop on the affected stretch, according to BBC News. The Iryo service carried 147 passengers, while 397 were aboard the state-owned Renfe service.

Puente said a Madrid control centre takes over when a system failure occurs. He attributed the collision to the computer problem followed by human error, saying the centre had instructed trains to resume travelling without speed restrictions, the BBC reported. That explanation is the minister’s account, rather than a completed investigation finding.

The precise timing is unclear across the BBC’s reports. Its main report placed the collision shortly after 09:00, while its survivor account cited an instruction to proceed at 08:36 followed by the crash about 17 minutes later.

Survivors describe escape from wreckage

Passengers described being thrown from their seats, luggage flying through carriages and people becoming trapped among damaged seats, according to BBC News. Some broke windows to escape. Images described by the outlet showed a length of railway track piercing a carriage.

Tangui Binier, 22, who was travelling on the Iryo train, told the BBC that passengers initially debated whether leaving was safe because electrical wires were lying outside. After getting out, he saw overturned wreckage and debris. He said his father helped carry a girl with a broken hip to safety.

Another passenger, Salvador Arriza, described people trapped between seats and extensive damage inside the Renfe train, according to the BBC’s reporting. Survivors who were able to move helped others after the impact.

Dozens of ambulances attended, and a helicopter evacuated people with the most serious injuries, BBC News reported. Spain’s Civil Guard said DNA samples from relatives would be needed to identify some of those killed.

Pressure over railway safety

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the scene and pledged to establish whether negligence played a role, according to BBC News. The outlet reported that a January high-speed rail disaster near Córdoba had killed 46 people on the same line, farther south.

Opposition People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo called for answers about the country’s infrastructure. Trade union CSIF demanded Puente’s resignation, accusing him of shifting responsibility onto a traffic manager, the BBC reported.

Most Spanish political parties cancelled Wednesday’s campaign events, according to BBC News. Vox did not, with leader Santiago Abascal arguing that mourning should not prevent criticism of rail infrastructure. The BBC said the collision was Spain’s worst since the 2013 disaster near Santiago de Compostela, which killed 80 people.

Sources: BBC News; Al Jazeera.