At least 68 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Wednesday when a high-speed train traveling from Madrid to Seville collided with a stationary train near Toledo, Spain. The incident, described by survivors as "apocalyptic," occurred shortly before 9 a.m. when a train struck the rear of another on the same track.
Spain's Minister of Transport, Oscar Puente, stated that an "inexplicable" error from a central command unit, coupled with a security system failure, led to the crash. According to Puente, all trains on a 63-kilometer stretch of track had been halted due to a computer malfunction. However, central command instructed a Renfe train to resume its journey without speed restrictions. Approximately 20 minutes later, the train collided with the stationary Iryo train. Puente indicated that the control center had sufficient time to identify and rectify the error but failed to do so.
Survivors recounted scenes of devastation. Sebastian Herrero, who was on the stationary Iryo train, described being thrown violently upon impact and witnessing the mangled wreckage. "In those carriages, I find it very hard to believe there are any living people. It's a twisted mass of metal. It's as if they had planted a bomb," he said. Another passenger reported seeing a young boy with an amputated arm. Joaquín Torres, an architect, described holding a severely injured woman who subsequently died in his arms.
One carriage caught fire, and emergency responders found carriages impaled on steel rails. Fatima Banez, Spain's former employment minister, was reported to be among the deceased. David Gomez, a construction worker who rushed to help, described pulling people from windows and treating injuries, including a severed leg.
The tragedy occurred less than a year after a separate train accident in southern Spain in January that killed 46 people. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who visited the crash site, declared three days of national mourning and stated that the situation was "not acceptable." He vowed that the cause of the accident would be determined and that any wrongdoing would be exposed. Opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo suspended his campaign activities in response to the incident.
The train drivers' union, which had planned a 24-hour work stoppage for the following day, had previously raised concerns about the safety and reliability of the rolling stock, demanding "real and definitive technical solutions."