Spanish PM vows to find cause of deadly high-speed train crash

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared three days of national mourning for those who lost their lives in the high-speed train accident that killed at least 40 people.

Sanchez also vowed to find out why two high-speed trains collided in southern Spain as rescuers continue to search the wreckage.

More than 120 people were injured when the wagons of a Madrid-bound train derailed in Adamuz on Sunday evening, crossed onto the opposite rails and collided with a train coming from the opposite direction.

This crash is the worst the country has seen in more than a decade.

Rail network operator Adif said the collision occurred at 19:45 local time (18:45 GMT) on Sunday, about an hour after one of the trains departed Málaga north towards Madrid and derailed on a straight track near the city of Córdoba.

According to Transport Minister Óscar Puente, the force of the crash pushed the carriages of the second train into an embankment. He added that most of those killed and injured were in the front carriages of the second train from Madrid heading south to Huelva.

Rescue teams said the twisted wreckage of the trains made it difficult to rescue people trapped inside the carriages.

Sanchez visited the crash site with senior officials on Monday afternoon.

“This is a day of sadness for all of Spain and for our entire country,” he told reporters.

“We will get to the truth, we will find the answer, and when the answer to the origin and cause of this tragedy is known with absolute transparency and clarity, as it could not be otherwise, we will make it public.”

Puente called the incident “extremely strange,” saying the investigation could take at least a month.

However, Reuters news agency quoted an anonymous source briefing on initial investigations as saying experts found a faulty connection in the rails, causing the gap between railway sections to widen as trains pass over them. They added that the joint is important in determining the cause of the accident.

Spain’s El País newspaper said it was not clear whether the malfunction was the cause or the result of the accident.

Railway officials said there were four hundred passengers and staff on the two trains. Emergency services treated 122 people, including children, 41 of whom are still in hospital. 12 of them are in intensive care.

Puente said the death toll “has not yet been finalized.” Authorities are working to identify the dead.

The type of train involved in the accident was a Freccia 1000, which can reach speeds of 400 km (250 mph) per hour, a spokesman for Italian rail company Ferrovie dello Stato told Reuters.

RTVE journalist Salvador Jimenez, who was on one of the trains, said the blow felt like an “earthquake”.

“I was in the first car. For a moment it felt like there was an earthquake and the train actually derailed,” Jimenez said.

Images taken from the scene show some train wagons lying on their sides. Rescuers are seen climbing aboard the train to rescue people from unstable train doors and windows.

“People were screaming, calling for doctors,” Madrid-bound passenger José told public broadcaster Canal Sur.

All high-speed services between Madrid and the southern cities of Malaga, Cordoba, Seville and Huelva are suspended until Friday.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia stated that they were following the news of the disaster “with great concern” and offered their “heartfelt condolences”.

The emergency agency in the Andalusia region urged survivors of the crash to contact their families or post on social media that they were alive.

The Spanish Red Cross is sending emergency support services to the scene, while also offering counseling to nearby families.

Miguel Ángel Rodríguez of the Red Cross told RNE radio: “Families are going through a state of great anxiety because of the lack of information. These are very sad moments.”

In 2013, Spain experienced its worst high-speed train derailment in Galicia, northwestern Spain, killing 80 people and injuring 140 others.

Spain’s high-speed rail network is the second largest in the world after China, connecting more than 50 cities across the country. Adif data shows that the Spanish railway is more than 4,000 km (2,485 mi) long.