Spain began three days of national mourning on Thursday after a high-speed train collision killed 68 people and injured scores, leaving families desperately searching for news of missing loved ones.
The disaster, one of Europe’s deadliest rail accidents this century, has renewed concerns about safety on Spain’s high-speed rail network after Transport Minister Oscar Puente cited an “error” and “inexplicable circumstances” surrounding the crash.
The collision occurred on Wednesday morning in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha when a train operated by state railway company Renfe struck the rear of a stationary train belonging to private operator Iryo.
Emergency crews worked through the night to recover victims from the wreckage along the busy railway line linking Madrid with the southern city of Seville. AFP reporters at the scene saw cranes lifting twisted metal as rescuers continued searching for survivors and victims.
Josimar Medina, a 31-year-old Peruvian tourist visiting Spain with his girlfriend, said he had been asleep aboard the Renfe train when the collision occurred.
“I woke up and I was in the air,” he told AFP.
Pablo Mejia, 42, survived with head injuries after changing seats shortly before the crash, a decision he believes saved his life.
Wearing a bloodstained grey jumper and clutching his torn suitcase, he recalled the impact and the chaotic aftermath.
“A very strong hit… a lot of people on the floor, on top of each other, seats ripped out, suitcases, a lot of chaos,” he said.
“I think I’ve been born again,” Mejia added.
‘Long and hard hours’ for families
A school in the nearby village of Urda, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of Madrid, has been converted into a centre where relatives can seek information about their loved ones.
Red Cross workers provided psychological support to groups of relatives arriving at the facility, some of them in tears, as police officers and journalists from around the world gathered nearby.
Carmen Garcia, a Red Cross psychologist, warned that families faced a difficult period of uncertainty and grief.
“Long and hard hours” lay ahead because “every person will manage it in their own way”, she said.
“We have people who are in shock, who haven’t taken on board what has happened, angry people, sad, worried people. The grieving will be complicated,” Garcia added.
Spain’s Civil Guard has established four offices in Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba and Seville to collect DNA samples from relatives and help identify missing victims.
Blood donation centres have also been set up across Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid as authorities respond to the aftermath of the disaster.
Jose Miguel Fernandez, a parish priest in Urda, joined emergency personnel in offering support to bereaved families and survivors.
“What matters most is being with the victims’ relatives, that they feel the closeness, because words at a time like this are pointless, but a hug helps,” he said.
Recalling his arrival at the crash site, Fernandez described the scene as one of “desolation, despair, uncertainty, death”.
Railway safety under scrutiny
The latest disaster has intensified scrutiny of Spain’s railway safety systems, particularly after the transport minister raised questions about how train services resumed following a reported technical failure.
Puente said on Wednesday that an automatic control system had failed along a 69-kilometre (43-mile) stretch of track, forcing trains in the affected area to stop.
However, he questioned the decision by the control centre to resume rail traffic.
The control centre decided to “resume traffic in circumstances that, from our point of view, are inexplicable,” Puente said, adding that the Renfe train travelled 25 kilometres before colliding with the stationary Iryo service.
The control centre “had more than enough time to verify the error, and they did not fix it”, he added.
The cause of the collision has yet to be established, and the minister’s remarks do not constitute a final determination of responsibility.
The crash is Spain’s second major high-speed rail disaster this year. In January, a collision in the southern region of Andalusia killed 46 people after one train derailed and crossed onto an adjacent track, striking another train.
Investigations into that accident are ongoing, while the government has faced criticism over its handling of railway safety.
Spain has invested heavily in its high-speed rail network, which is the second-largest in the world after China. The latest collision, however, has renewed questions about the reliability of its infrastructure, operational procedures and safety controls.
The tragedy also comes at a politically sensitive time for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who is seeking to overcome unfavourable opinion polls ahead of an early general election scheduled for November 29.
As rescue operations give way to victim identification and investigations, families continue to wait for answers about their missing relatives, while authorities face mounting pressure to establish what went wrong.
AFP
