Train Crash
Spain begins three days of mourning after a high-speed rail collision kills 68 people near Madrid.
A high-speed train slammed into a stopped train in central Spain on Wednesday, killing 68 people. Spain declared three days of national mourning.
Near Urda, about 80 miles south of Madrid, the state-owned Renfe train struck the rear of a halted Iryo train, the BBC reported. The Iryo train was carrying 147 passengers. It had halted because of a computer failure on the line, Transport Minister Óscar Puente said. A control center in Madrid cleared it to move again. No speed restriction at all. Puente called it "inexplicable." The train shouldn't have moved at all, he said, since a stop signal was still active on the line, NPR reported. It ran roughly 25 kilometers before it hit the stopped train at high speed, according to CNBC and NPR.
Castilla-La Mancha's regional government put the death toll at 68, with 58 more people under hospital treatment, NPR reported. The Guardian, however, put the number treated in hospital at 107, including 15 in serious condition. Regional leader Emiliano García-Page said the toll could still rise, telling reporters rescuers had "not yet been possible to reach the bottom of the carriages."
Wednesday's wreck was Spain's second high-speed rail disaster this year. In January, a crash on the same Madrid-Seville line killed 46 people near Córdoba, in Andalusia. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the site and pledged a full investigation, calling it "unacceptable for a country like Spain to suffer two high-speed train accidents in the same year." He said any failures in the safety system, or signs of negligence, would be addressed with "the utmost severity," according to the Guardian.
Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the People's Party called for an independent review of the entire rail network. "Spain has the right to know what is going on with its infrastructure," he told the Guardian. Vox leader Santiago Abascal accused rival parties of using the mourning period to block criticism of rail safety, the BBC reported. Most parties suspended campaigning ahead of the November 29 general election.
Rail operator Adif said it was investigating the collision, CNBC reported. Spain's rail union Semaf vowed drivers would strike Thursday "in defence of railway safety." About 1,500 people gathered overnight outside the Transport Ministry in Madrid, and police fired tear gas after some in the crowd threw bottles and flares, the BBC said. No injuries or arrests were reported.