Spanish train crash leaves dozens dead
MADRID, SPAIN — A passenger train derailed on a high-speed stretch of track in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night, killing at least 40 people and leaving dozens injured in the country’s worst rail accident in decades, officials said.
Officials gave different death tolls in the aftermath of the accident. Alberto Nunez Feijoo, president of the region of Galicia, said at least 40 people aboard the train were killed.
Spain’s leading Cadena SER radio station cited the president of the Galicia’s main court, Miguel Angel Cadenas, at the scene saying 56 people were killed, but that could not be independently confirmed. The station said three carriages had still to be inspected by rescue workers.
State-owned train operator Renfe said in a statement that 218 passengers and an unspecified number of staff were on board at the time of the accident. Renfe, which did not give a death or injury toll, said the derailment happened at 8.41 p.m. local time along a high-speed section that had been inaugurated just two years ago.
The SER radio station cited unnamed local government officials as saying 100 people were injured but there were no details on the severity of the injuries.
Feast day festivities planned in the city of Santiago de Compostela, outside of which the train derailed, were cancelled, town hall spokeswoman Maria Pardo told Spanish National television TVE.
Sergio Prego, a passenger on the train, told the SER, “The train was going at a very fast speed and in the curve it went off the tracks, it overturned. We were the lucky ones that were able to get out on our own feet.”
A photographer at the scene said he saw dozens of what appeared to be bodies being extracted from the wreck by emergency workers. TVE showed footage of what appeared to be several bodies covered by blankets alongside the tracks next to the damaged train wagons and rescue workers entering toppled carriages through broken windows.
Photographer Xabier Martinez told The Associated Press that he also spoke to two injured train passengers who said they felt a strong vibration before the derailing.
The accident occurred near the train station in Santiago de Compostela. Rescue workers were also seen in the television images caring for people still inside some of the wagons.
Television footage showed one wagon pointing upwards into the air with one of its ends twisted and disfigured. Another carriage that had been severed in two could be seen lying on a road near the track.
The train, which belongs to the state-owned Renfe company, had started its journey in Madrid. Although it was not an AVE high speed train, it was a relatively luxurious version that uses the same track as Spain’s fastest expresses.