Spanish police said Monday that at least 39 people died in a high-speed train collision Sunday in southern Spain and rescue efforts were continuing. But the country’s transport minister, Oscar Puente, indicated the toll could rise, telling French news agency AFP it’s “not definitive.”
The collision occurred when the tail end of a train traveling between Malaga and Madrid with some 300 passengers went off the rails near Cordoba at 7:45 p.m. It slammed into a train coming from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city, according to rail operator Adif.
Rescue efforts were still underway Monday morning. Andalusia regional President Juanma Moreno said 75 passengers were hospitalized, with most taken to Cordoba, about 242 miles south of Madrid.
The Spanish Red Cross set up a help center in the town of Adamuz, near the crash site, offering assistance to emergency services and people seeking information. Members of Spain’s civil guard and civil defense worked on site through the night.
Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente early Monday said the cause of the crash was unknown.
He called it “a truly strange” incident because it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May. He also said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old. That train belonged to the private company Iryo while the second train, which took the brunt of the impact, was part of Spain’s public train company Renfe.
According to Puente, the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train, knocking its first two cars off the track and down a 13-foot slope. He said the worst damage was to the front section of the Renfe train.
When asked by reporters how long an inquiry into the crash’s cause could take, he said it could be a month.
Spain has the largest high-speed rail network in Europe for trains moving over 155 mph, with more than 1,900 miles of track, according to the European Union.
The network is a popular, competitively priced and safe mode of transport. Renfe said more than 25 million passengers took one of its high-speed trains in 2024.
Train services between Madrid and cities in Andalusia were canceled for Monday.
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain said Sunday they were “following with great concern the serious accident between two high-speed trains in Adamuz.”
“We extend our most heartfelt condolences to the relatives and loved ones of the dead, as well as our love and wishes for a swift recovery to the injured,” the royal palace said on X.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that she was following “the terrible news” from Cordoba.
“Tonight you are in my thoughts,” she wrote in Spanish.
Spain’s worst train accident this century occurred in 2013 when 80 people died after a train derailed in the country’s northwest. An investigation concluded the train was traveling 111 mph on a stretch with a 50 mph speed limit when it left the tracks.
