Spain train crash leaves at least 30 dead

Emergency services work at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 28.

The scene at the site of the crash is frantic as a serious rescue operation is underway, according to CNN’s team on the ground in Toledo province.

Dozens of fire trucks, ambulances and police cars are here. At least three helicopters are also at the crash site to assist with operations. Multiple ambulances have come and gone from the cordoned-off area.

Meanwhile, emergency responders are combing through the rubble of some of the heavily damaged carriages of the train operated by Iryo. Several carriages of the state-owned Renfe high-speed train are tilted on their side after coming off the rails.

The Spanish civil guard has set up multiple tents for what amounts to a huge emergency response.

Authorities have moved a bus full of passengers who do not have serious injuries away from the site, and some those passengers told CNN they are now being taken to their original destination of Sevilla.

Passengers described a chaotic scene when their train hit another train on the tracks.

Those being bussed away from the crash site included citizens of multiple nationalities, including Spain, Brazil and elsewhere. Staff from the US Embassy in Spain are also at the site.

Train accident survivor shares what happened moments before the crash

0:55 • Source: CNN

Train accident survivor shares what happened moments before the crash

0:55

A woman traveling on one of the trains involved in a deadly collision Wednesday morning has described “awful” scenes as people were thrown into the air.

Patricia was sitting in the third carriage of the AVE high speed train, operated by Renfe, Spain’s national railway company, when it collided with a train owned by the company Iryo.

Speaking to CNN, Patricia told how her train had been stopped for around 20 minutes before the accident, with an announcement explaining there was a lot of traffic. “After that we departed, and maybe not after even three minutes, there was a crash,” she said.

Patricia said the crash seemed to last a long time.

The Castilla-La Mancha regional government has called for blood donations following today’s train crash.

“Donate blood,” reads a post on X. “Today your solidarity is very important.”

The post calls for donations in Alcázar de San Juan, Ciudad Real and Toledo.

The President of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, center to the right, and the Government Delegate for Castilla-La Mancha, José Pablo Sabrido, center, are briefed on the accident by those working at the scene, in Urda, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, on October 28.

At least 30 people have been killed and around a hundred injured in a collision between two trains in the Spanish province of Toledo this morning, according to a local government official and emergency services. The incident is the third rail disaster in Spain this year.

Here’s what we know about the deadly collision so far:

CNN’s Pau Mosquera, Sophie Tanno, Magdalena Sofia Vitores Moreno and Lauren Kent contributed to this reporting.

At least 30 people have been killed after two trains collided in Spain this morning, according to a local government official.

The spokesperson for the Castilla-La Mancha regional government told CNN that the death toll is likely to rise.

This post has been updated with additional developments.

Today’s train crash occurred in Toledo province, which sits in central Spain to the south of Madrid.

The provincial capital Toledo is around 40 miles southwest of the Spanish capital, and the crash involved two trains that were traveling on the line linking Madrid to Seville, which is around a further 200 miles south-west of the city of Toledo.

Toledo province is part of the region of Castilla–La Mancha, of which the city of Toledo is also the capital.

Rescue team members arrive at the scene where two high-speed trains that have crashed in the village of Urda, Toledo, Spain, October 28.

Castilla-La Mancha 112 emergency services has disclosed more details about this morning’s fatal train crash.

A spokesperson told CNN they received a report of a collision at 8.45 a.m. local time.

According to the reports received, one of the trains, owned by the company Iryo, was stationary or traveling at low speed when it was struck by an AVE train, operated by Renfe, Spain’s national railway company.

Part of the AVE train left the tracks, while several carriages of the Iryo train derailed, the spokesperson said, adding that a military emergency unit had been deployed.

An advanced command post has been set up near the crash site. Meanwhile, in Urda, Toledo, a shelter has been opened, where the Red Cross is providing assistance to the injured and food and other supplies to anyone requiring non-medical support.

The spokesperson estimated that approximately 400 passengers were on board each train at the time of the collision, although exact figures have yet to be confirmed by the rail operators.

CNN has contacted both companies but has not yet received a response.

Eyewitness footage shows wreckage from fatal Spain train crash

0:14 • Source: CNN

Eyewitness footage shows wreckage from fatal Spain train crash

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One of the first videos to emerge from the site of the fatal railway crash in Toledo, Spain, has been shared with CNN by a journalist from Spanish radio station Capital Radio, who was a passenger on one of the trains.

Footage filmed from inside one of the carriages following the collision appears to show the mangled remains of another carriage next to the tracks.

A woman walks past an information screen displaying cancelled train services following the collision of two high-speed trains between the towns of Mora and Orgaz, at the Atocha train station in Madrid, Spain, October 28.

The crash in the province of Toledo marks the third rail disaster in Spain this year.

In January, two high-speed trains collided near Adamuz, in southern Spain’s Córdoba province, killing more than 40 people. That collision happened after the tail end of a northbound train derailed and crossed onto the adjacent track, where a southbound train was approaching. More than a hundred people were injured, authorities said at the time.

That crash also killed one of the train drivers and led to a nationwide strike to demand greater safety for railway professionals amid a series of accidents throughout Spain.

Prior to that collision, Spain’s train drivers’ union, Semaf, had raised concerns about high speeds causing vibrations and subsequent wear and tear along high-speed railway lines, a source from the union told CNN at the time.

The Adamuz accident was the worst on Spain’s railways since a crash in Galicia in 2013, when 79 people were killed and 144 injured after a train slammed into a well and burst into flames near the city of Santiago de Compostela.

Days after the Adamuz train disaster, a commuter train near Barcelona derailed on a day of heavy rainfall, killing the driver and injuring dozens of passengers.

CNN’s Pau Mosquera, Tim Lister and Sana Noor Haq contributed to this report.

Football teams, including LaLiga giants Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, have issued statements of condolences following the deadly high-speed train collision.

Real Madrid added that it offers its ” full support and solidarity” to those impacted and sends its “full support” to the emergency services at the scene.

Atlético Madrid said that it joins “in the grief for the victims of the terrible railway accident that occurred this morning in the province of Toledo.”