Spanish train crash death toll rises to at least 40 as crews search

Death toll reaches at least 40; search continues for bodies

Spanish regional officials said Monday that at least 40 people were confirmed dead after a high-speed rail collision the previous night in southern Spain, with authorities warning that more bodies could be found. Andalusia President Juanma Moreno said the updated death toll in an afternoon press conference and said efforts to recover bodies from the two wrecked train cars were continuing.

Moreno described the wreckage as the product of a violent impact in which some bodies were found hundreds of meters from the crash site, while others were likely still inside the damaged carriages. Authorities were also dealing with the presence of hundreds of distraught family members and asked them to provide DNA samples to help identify victims.

What officials said happened Sunday night

The collision occurred Sunday at 7:45 p.m. when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to Madrid went off the rails. The train then slammed into an incoming service traveling from Madrid to Huelva, according to rail operator Adif.

Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the head of the second train—carrying nearly 200 passengers—took the brunt of the impact. He said the collision knocked the first two carriages of that train off the track and that it appeared the largest number of deaths occurred in those carriages. Authorities said all survivors had been rescued in the early morning.

Moreno said the impact tossed the second train’s lead carriages off the track, sending them down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. He described the destruction as shredded and twisted, adding that the force of the impact had scattered bodies over a wide area.

National mourning and help for families

In response to the crash, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared three days of national mourning for the victims. On a visit to Adamuz, a village near the accident site, Sánchez said, “Today is a day of pain for all of Spain.”

Authorities were also preparing identification and support efforts for families. The Civil Guard opened offices in Cordoba, Madrid, Malaga, Huelva and Seville so relatives of the missing could seek help and leave DNA samples. Francisco Carmona, the firefighter chief of Cordoba, told Onda Cero radio, “There were moments when we had to remove the dead to get to the living.”

Injuries, hospital figures, and disruptions to rail service

Andalusia’s regional emergency services said 41 people remained hospitalized, including 12 in intensive care units. Another 81 passengers were discharged by late Monday afternoon, authorities said.

Train services Monday between Madrid and cities in Andalusia were canceled, disrupting travel plans across the region. Spanish airline Iberia added flights to Seville and two to Malaga to help stranded travelers, while some bus companies reinforced services in the south.

Investigators weigh possible causes; speeds disputed

Puente said early Monday that the cause of the crash was unknown, calling it “a truly strange” incident because it occurred on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May. Puente also said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old, and that it belonged to Italian-owned Iryo while the other train belonged to Spain’s Renfe.

Puente said the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train and said an investigation into the cause could take a month. He earlier said emergency services were still searching for bodies at ground zero.

The Spanish Union of Railway Drivers told AP that in August it sent a letter asking Spain’s national railway operator to investigate flaws on train lines across the country and reduce speeds at certain points until tracks were fully repaired, including on the high-speed line where the accident happened.

Renfe President Álvaro Fernández told Spanish public radio RNE that both trains were well under the speed limit of 250 kph (155 mph), saying one train was going 205 kph (127 mph) and the other 210 kph (130 mph). Fernández also said, “human error could be ruled out,” and that the incident “must be related to the moving equipment of Iryo or the infrastructure.”

Iryo said in a statement Monday that its train was manufactured in 2022 and passed its latest safety check on Jan. 15.

Spain’s high-speed record under renewed scrutiny

The collision is the first with deaths on a high-speed train since Spain’s high-speed rail network opened its first line in 1992, according to AP’s summary of the country’s rail history. Spain’s high-speed network covers more than 3,900 kilometers (about 2,400 miles) of track for trains moving over 250 kph, the International Union of Railways said, and Renfe said more than 25 million passengers took one of its high-speed trains in 2024.

AP reported that Spain’s worst train accident this century occurred in 2013, when 80 people died after a train derailed in the northwest. That investigation concluded the train was traveling 179 kph (111 mph) on a stretch with an 80 kph (50 mph) speed limit.