At least 68 dead in high-speed train collision in Spain, authorities say

A high-speed train reportedly slammed into the rear of another train that had stopped in central Spain, derailing two cars and killing at least 68 people Wednesday morning, according to local authorities.

The regional government of Castilla La Mancha confirmed the death toll and said another 58 people were receiving medical treatment at hospitals. Rescue workers continue searching the wreckage for survivors and bodies.

The crash occurred Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo, according to Spain's rail system operator ADIF. Rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.

Padilla told state broadcaster TVE the accident was between two high-speed trains heading in the same direction from Madrid to Seville and that one ran into the tail of the other while it was stopped, knocking two of its cars off the track. 

The accident involved a train from Spain's state-owned RENFE company and the private rail company IRYO. Trains from those two companies were also involved in a deadly crash in January. Padilla said 397 passengers were in the RENFE train and 147 passengers were in the IRYO train.

"Today all of Spain is grieving," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said from the crash site, where he announced that his government would declare three days of national mourning.

Sánchez called for increased safety measures to restore confidence in a high-speed rail system that was once a source of national pride.

"It is unacceptable for a country like Spain to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year," said Sánchez, who faces a national election on Nov. 29. 

Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the crash was caused by what he called the "inexplicable" order from a central command center for Spain's trains after a security system had failed. He said the train engineers were not to blame.

Puente said that at 8:30 a.m. the security system on a stretch of 63 kilometers (39 miles) stopped working due to a computer malfunction, causing all trains on that stretch to stop. But the central command told the RENFE train to start running again without any speed restrictions, and it ended up colliding with the stopped IRYO train at 8:53 a.m.

Puente said the train should never have been told to start moving again since there was still a "stop signal" active on that line. And if it had, at least it should have been told to go at reduced speed.

Authorities were still studying information to see how fast the train was going, but it could have been at 200 kph (124 mph) for that stretch of the track, Puente said.

"I am not attributing responsibility to anyone, I am just stating the facts," Puente said.

The crash, which occurred in a flat stretch surrounded by olive fields in between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes, left carriages shredded into bits of metal and other material, scattering debris down a gravel slope.

Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said that emergency workers were focused on rescuing survivors and bodies from the most damaged train cars.

"It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy," García said.

Passenger Ignacio Relaño was traveling on the RENFE train. He told state broadcaster TVE that the train had stopped momentarily on the line before it started again and then crashed into the IRYO.

"We all felt the train abruptly slowing down and then the impact," he said. "The car leaned to one side like it was about to tip over. I hit my nose, everything went flying, luggage, cell phones. Everything shook."

Another passenger recounted to Cadena Ser radio how she felt the train slam on the brakes and was thrown forward in her seat, breaking the small table in front of her. She said she saw body parts and trapped people covered in blood. 

The mayor of the nearby town of Urda, Manuel Galán, told Spanish state broadcaster TVE that civil protection authorities had asked his town hall to prepare a sports pavilion to attend to passengers.

In January, 45 people died in southern Spain when a train jumped the track and hit an oncoming train. The crash was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people. The January incident shook the confidence the European country has in its extensive high-speed rail network.