Spain has suffered another major fatal rail crash with Renfe and Iryo trains colliding on the high-speed track between Madrid and Seville, leading to the death of at least 30 people.
Rail infrastructure operator Arif said the two trains were involved in a “rear-end collision” between the towns of Mora and Orgaz in the Castilla La Mancha region, south of Madrid, at around 09.00 on Wednesday (28 October).
Reports in the Spanish media said that two Iryo carriages had derailed following the collision with the Renfe train, which led to the suspension of the high-speed line between Madrid and Seville.
A spokesperson for the Castilla La Mancha regional government told Spanish media that the two trains, which were both travelling from Madrid to Seville, were carrying a total of nearly 550 passengers, with the initial death toll “almost certain to rise”.
The incident comes nine months after a collision between two trains in southern Spain killed 46 people in January in what was the country’s worst rail accident in more than a decade.
Before this latest accident, Spanish train drivers’ union SEMAF had called a 24-hour strike for Thursday (29 October) as part of an ongoing dispute over safety standards on the country’s rail network.