Barcelona crash follows Sunday disaster after wall fall
A Barcelona-area commuter train crash killed at least one person and injured 37 others after a retaining wall fell onto the tracks, Spanish regional authorities said Tuesday. The crash in Catalonia in northeastern Spain occurred near the town of Gelida, about 35 minutes outside of Barcelona.
Emergency workers were still searching for more victims in the wreckage from Sunday’s deadly train accident, which officials said took place about 800 kilometers (497 miles) away as Spain began three days of mourning.
Casualty breakdown and emergency response
Emergency services in Catalonia said five of the 37 people affected by Tuesday’s crash were seriously injured, and six others were in less serious condition. They said 20 ambulances had been sent to the site, and that the injured were taken to hospitals in the area.
Regional firefighters said most of the injured had ridden in the first train car.
Prime minister sends condolences
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez acknowledged the crash, writing on X: “All my affection and solidarity with the victims and their families.”
Operator links crash wall to heavy rainfall
Spain’s railway operator ADIF said the containment wall likely collapsed due to heavy rainfall that swept across the northeastern Spanish region this week. ADIF said commuter train service was canceled along the line.
Sunday collision details and investigation updates
The Sunday crash happened at 7:45 p.m., when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to Madrid derailed and crashed into an incoming train traveling from Madrid to Huelva, rail operator Adif said. Authorities said they were still recovering more bodies on Tuesday.
Officials investigating Sunday’s accident said they had found a broken section of track that could possibly be related to the accident’s origin, but insisted it was only a hypothesis. “Now we have to determine if that is a cause or a consequence (of the derailment),” Puente told Spanish radio Cadena Ser, according to the report.
“All hypotheses are open,” Grande Marlaska told a press conference. He said investigators will analyze “the rails at the point where the derailment began and inspect the wheels” of the first train in a laboratory.
The report said the train that jumped the track belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train belonged to Spain’s public train company, Renfe.
Iryo said in a statement that its train was manufactured in 2022 and had passed a safety check on Jan. 15. The report also said Puente and Renfe president Álvaro Fernández stated both trains were traveling well under the speed limit of 250 kph (155 mph) and that “human error could be ruled out.”
Bodies, injuries, and travel disruptions
The report described how the front of the second train took the brunt of the impact, knocking its first two carriages off the track and down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope, and said some bodies were found hundreds of meters from the crash site. It also said the front of the second train was severed from the rest of the train and that wreckage was visible along the track.
Health authorities said 39 people remained in hospitals on Tuesday morning, while 83 had been treated and discharged.
It also said Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia visited the Sunday accident scene, where they greeted emergency workers and local residents involved in early rescue efforts. Afterward, they went to hospital in Cordoba. “We are all responsible for not looking away when the debris of a catastrophe is being cleared away,” Letizia told reporters after the visit.
The report said Spain’s Civil Guard collected DNA samples from family members who fear they have loved ones among the unidentified dead.
High-speed trains resumed service Tuesday from Madrid to Sevilla and Malaga, but passengers had to travel part of the journey by buses provided by the rail service. Minister Puente said normal train service would not resume until early February.
Rail service context
While Spain’s high-speed rail network generally runs smoothly, the report said commuter rail service reliability issues have persisted, though accidents causing injury or death are not common.