Death toll rises to 68 in Spain high-speed train collision
The death toll from a collision between two high-speed trains in central Spain has risen to 68, according to regional authorities. More than 180 others were injured.
The trains collided at 8:54 a.m. local time on Wednesday near the station in Urda, in Toledo province, as they traveled from Madrid to Seville, according to Spanish broadcaster RTVE. An AVE train struck the rear of a stopped Iryo train.
The Castilla-La Mancha regional government confirmed a death toll of 68 in its latest update on Wednesday night, including 44 aboard the Iryo train and 24 on the AVE. There were 151 passengers on the Iryo and 393 on the AVE, a total of 544.
RTVE reported that 183 people had been treated for injuries as of 8 p.m. Of those, 107 had been hospitalized in Castilla-La Mancha, where 56 had since been discharged. Another 76 were hospitalized in the Madrid region.
Hospitals in Toledo, Albacete and Ciudad Real suspended scheduled activities and made beds available for victims.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the government’s initial assessment pointed to human error after a railway safety system failed. He said the LZB system, which monitors train speeds and can automatically slow or stop a train, went down at about 8:30 a.m. because of a communication failure involving three computers over a 63-kilometer (39-mile) section of track.
After the failure, the control center for rail infrastructure operator Adif ordered the AVE to resume normal operations even though a train was stopped and a signal at the entrance to Urda station was red, Puente said.
The minister called the decision “inexplicable” and said it was the origin of the collision. The AVE traveled about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) after resuming its journey before it struck the Iryo train.
Spain’s Civil Guard has questioned the Adif control center operator who was managing traffic on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line, RTVE reported. The country’s railway accident investigation commission has opened an investigation.
“Spain is in mourning,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a statement. We are working to determine the cause of this tragedy. If there has been negligence or failures, it will be brought to light. And decisive action will be taken.”
Wednesday’s crash is Spain’s second major train disaster this year. In January, 46 people were killed when an Iryo train traveling from Malaga to Madrid derailed onto an adjacent track and collided with an oncoming Renfe Alvia train bound for Huelva.
