What we know about Spain’s worst train disaster in over a decade

Local authorities said that at least 40 people died and dozens were injured when two high-speed trains collided in southern Spain.

The incident near the city of Córdoba was described by local authorities as Spain’s worst rail accident in more than a decade.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the scene on Monday and announced three days of mourning.

This is what we know about the incident so far.

The accident occurred at around 19:45 local time (18:45 GMT) on Sunday, about an hour after one of the trains left Malaga for Madrid.

Operator Adif said that the train derailed and crossed onto the opposite road.

It then collided with a train heading from southern Madrid to Huelva, and the train hit an embankment along the track, Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said on Sunday.

He added that the majority of those killed and injured were in the front carriages of the train bound for Huelva.

It is not yet known what caused the train to derail.

Authorities say an investigation has been launched, but it is not expected to determine what happened for at least a month.

Puente called the accident “extremely strange” and said that all railway experts consulted by the government were “extremely puzzled by the accident.”

The chairman of Spain’s state-owned railway operator Renfe said he had “discarded” the possibility that the incident was caused by excessive speed or human error.

Álvaro Fernández Heredia told Spain’s national radio RNE that even if a mistake had been made, a system inside the train would have corrected it.

He added that both trains were traveling below the maximum speed limit on the line where the accident occurred.

Fernández Heredia suggested that a mechanical failure or infrastructure issue was a more likely cause.

Meanwhile, at a press conference during his visit to Adamuz, Prime Minister Sánchez promised to uncover the cause of the crash and thanked emergency workers for their help “in such a moment of pain and tragedy.”

According to the statement made by Renfe, there were approximately 400 passengers and personnel on the two trains operated by Iryo and Renfe.

It is unclear whether there are people still trapped in the wagons, but rescue teams are at the scene.

“The problem is that the wagons are bent, so the metal is bent along with the people inside,” Francisco Carmona, the fire chief in Córdoba, told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.

“We even had to pull out a dead person to get to a living one. It’s a difficult and complicated job,” he added.

Juanma Moreno, president of the Andalusian regional government, told local channel Canal Sur that they were waiting for “heavy machinery” to “practically remove” parts of the second train, which “took the brunt of the accident.”

“Until the heavy machinery does its job and derails the wagons,” emergency services cannot “start searching for and identifying” the remaining victims, he added.

While the identities of the 39 people who lost their lives in the accident have not yet been determined, Puente said that the death toll “has not yet been finalized” while investigations into the accident have begun.

Local emergency services said 122 people had received medical attention as of Monday afternoon, 48 of whom remained hospitalized.

Five of the 48 victims currently in hospital are under the age of 18.

Moreno said teams were working to identify the dead.

Passengers on the train going to Madrid said that they felt the moment of impact like an “earthquake”, the windows of the train were broken, luggage came out of place and people were thrown to the ground.

Journalist Salvador Jimenez told Canal Sur: “I was in the first carriage. For a moment it felt as if there was an earthquake and the train had actually derailed.”

“There were people screaming, calling for doctors,” he added.

Another passenger, Lucas Meriako, told Spanish broadcaster La Sexta Noticias he was in the fifth car of the same train when he began to feel “a bit of a pounding” that was gradually increasing.

“Another train passed us and everything started shaking. There was a shaking behind us and it felt like the whole train was going to fall apart,” he recounted.