A catastrophic train accident took place in southern Spain on Sunday night, killing at least 79 people. Tragically, at least 21 people died and another 30 were critically injured. The incident, which involved multiple trains, occurred shortly after the high-speed Iryo train departed from Málaga at 6:40 PM local time (17:40 GMT).
The Iryo train had derailed on the approach to Adamuz, crossing on to the emergency track on its other side. It subsequently crashed head-on into an oncoming train. That impact was so severe, that it caused both trains to derail. Almost simultaneously, a third train on a parallel track also derailed. According to rescue reports, there were up to 400 passengers on the two key trains at the time of the accident.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez conveyed his condolences, calling the incident “a night of deep pain” for Spain. His comments express the country’s shared mourning for the tragedy that is shocking our entire country.
The current president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, immediately politicized the incident. She stated that all hospitals in the Comunidad de Madrid were prepared to give whatever medical assistance should be needed to victims hailing from the region of Andalucía. Such coordination seeks to guarantee that the seriously injured get immediate medical care during the confusion and tragedy in the hours after a crash.
Eyewitnesses recount the terrifying moments before the crash. One passenger, Carmen, recounted, “Ten minutes after departing [from Córdoba], the train started to shake a lot, and it derailed from coach six behind us. The lights went out.” As one rider described smoke pouring into her train car, it was a grim scene of desperation as they called for responders and waited for help to arrive.
Spanish media subsequently described the scene as chaotic, with emergency services scrambling to the site of the accident. A reporter for Spain’s public broadcaster RNE compared the experience to “an earthquake,” a sign of the scale of the disaster.
The profound loss of collision resulted in swift action. Spain’s rail infrastructure manager Adif has stopped all train traffic between Madrid and Andalucía. The crash is still under investigation by federal authorities. They have personally witnessed and are continuing to feel the physical and emotional toll, as well as taking care of those recovering.