A three-day national mourning period is underway in Spain following one of the country’s deadliest rail disasters in recent years.
At least 68 people were confirmed dead and more than 100 others injured when two high-speed trains collided on the Madrid-Seville route Wednesday morning.
The incident occurred near the village of Urda, Toledo. Investigators said a Renfe-operated service hit a private Iryo train that had been forced to stop on the tracks.
The stoppage was triggered by a failure of the LZB automatic safety system, which controls speed and spacing between trains. Spain’s transport minister, Oscar Puente, said the fault affected about 69 kilometres of track and halted six trains. Movement was then authorised again from the control centre in Madrid, a decision he described as inexplicable.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who visited the scene, said the tragedy was unacceptable and that all of Spain was grieving. He declared mourning from Thursday to Saturday and promised decisive action to strengthen safety and restore public trust in the high-speed network.
This is the second fatal high-speed crash this year involving the same operators. A January collision near Cordoba killed 46 people.
Emergency crews worked through the night lifting twisted carriages to reach victims. Authorities have opened a family assistance centre in Urda and collection points for DNA identification in Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba and Seville.
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