MAJOR TRAGEDY

At Least 30 Killed as High Speed-Trains Collide in Horror Crash

A total of 544 passengers were on board the two trains.

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At least 30 people have been killed and dozens more are injured after two high-speed passenger trains collided in Spain. The crash, on the line connecting Madrid to southern Andalusia, unfolded when a train operated by the state-owned firm Renfe and another by private operator Iryo collided. The impact caused multiple carriages on the Iryo service to derail, sending several rolling down a steep roadside embankment in the rural countryside near Toledo. A total of 544 passengers were on board the two trains at the time of the impact, including 397 on the Renfe train and 147 on the Iryo service. Emergency medical responders rushed to the scene as local officials scrambled to convert public facilities into triage centers. “I have been asked by emergency services to prepare a sports hall to accommodate the injured,” Manuel Galán, mayor of the nearby municipality of Urda, reported. Regional government spokesperson Esther Padilla warned that the fatality count is expected to rise as search and rescue teams sift through the twisted wreckage. Spain’s Health Minister Mónica García added that images from the scene make clear the nation is facing “a major tragedy.”