Home · Faith · Nov 3 archive
Spain Declares Mourning After High-Speed Train Collision
Confirmed
In Short: The Spanish prime minister has declared three days of mourning after at least 68 people were killed and dozens more injured in a collision between two high-speed trains on Wednesday morning.
The Spanish prime minister has declared three days of mourning after at least 68 people were killed and dozens more injured in a collision between two high-speed trains on Wednesday morning.
According to officials, the collision occurred when one train ran into the rear of another that had stopped on the tracks, knocking several carriages off the track.
The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha confirmed that 40 of those killed had been traveling on the Iryo train, while 24 were aboard the AVE service.
The Spanish Football Federation has postponed Wednesday’s Copa del Rey first-round matches following the deadly train crash.
Conspiracy theories and doctored videos accusing Israel of orchestrating the collision have started spreading following the tragic accident.
What this adds
The collision is the second such accident to strike Spain this year, raising questions about the country's rail safety.
The trains had been carrying 544 people, and 80 people were injured, 15 of them very seriously.
Background
The collision occurred around 08:53 local time (07:53 GMT) between the municipalities of Mora and Orgaz, approximately 140 kilometers south of Madrid, according to the Spanish government.
A high-speed train collision south of Madrid killed 68 people and injured many more, prompting three days of national mourning.
What's confirmed
- The Spanish prime minister has declared three days of mourning after at least 68 people were killed and dozens more injured in a collision between two high-speed trains that officials suggested was caused by an “inexplicable” error at the central command centre.
- “We heard a massive roar, a truly enormous thud that went on for 10 seconds, as if the train were about to derail,” he said.
- As of Oct. 29, 69 deaths were reported, with dozens more injured.
- “We are moved and concerned by the train accident in Urda (Toledo). We share in the sorrow of the families and loved ones of the deceased and send our affection to the injured and those affected,” they wrote yesterday (translated from Spanish).
- At least 68 people were killed after a high-speed train slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks in central Spain on Wednesday morning, regional authorities said.
- A high-speed train collision south of Madrid killed 68 people and injured scores more on Wednesday, with the toll likely to rise, authorities said, in one of Europe's deadliest such disasters this century.
- Condolences flooded in from across Spain and Europe. The Spanish royal household said on X it was "shocked and concerned" by the accident, conveying its support to the victims, their loved ones and the emergency services.
- The second such accident to strike Spain this year will raise fresh questions about the country's rail safety, with the transport minister speaking of an "error" and "inexplicable circumstances" that led to the collision.
What's still developing
- The trains, one from Spain’s state-owned Renfe and the other from the private rail company Iryo, were travelling on Wednesday morning in the same direction on the line that stretches from the Spanish capital, Madrid, to the southern region of Andalusia.
- In January, 46 people were killed and dozens more injured after two trains – again, one from Renfe and one from Iryo – collided on the same line near the town of Adamuz in Andalucía.
- According to his account, he arrived around 11 a.m., two hours after the collision, and joined the relief effort improvised by dozens of volunteers, many of them members of his parish.
- Associated Press / Photo by Manu Fernandez Church leaders across Spain urged people to turn to God in prayer following a deadly train crash Wednesday.
- Spain's health minister Monica Garcia said that 80 people were injured, 15 of them very seriously.
- Of them, 58 had been taken to hospital, with 15 in a critical condition.
- State railway operator Renfe confirmed in a statement that the main high-speed line from Madrid to southern Spain had been suspended after one of its services suffered an accident with a train from private Spanish company Iryo.
- “All of Spain is in mourning. And we express all our solidarity and all our empathy with the families of the victims and also the injured who still remain hospitalized, for whom we hope for a speedy recovery,” Sánchez told reporters.
- Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporters on the scene saw one train embedded in another and some carriages lying on their sides in tangles of metal debris at the bottom of an embankment.