Spain declares three days of mourning after deadly train collision near Adamuz

Spain will begin three days of mourning on Tuesday as rescuers continue to comb through the wreckage after a train collision near Adamuz in Córdoba province that killed at least 40 people and injured dozens. The collision occurred just before 8pm on Sunday, when the rear part of a Madrid-bound high-speed train carrying about 300 passengers derailed into the path of an oncoming train.

The impact knocked the first two carriages of the southbound train off the track and sent it down a 4-metre slope, transport minister Óscar Puente said. More than 18 hours later many relatives were still trying to contact missing loved ones; police opened offices for reports and to "provide DNA samples for the purpose of identification".

Prime minister Pedro Sánchez vowed the investigation would be "full and transparent" and declared the three days of mourning starting at midnight, saying "Spanish society, like all of us, is wondering what happened, how it happened, how this tragedy could have occurred." Iryo, the private operator, said the derailed train was less than four years old and had been inspected four days earlier.

Puente described a derailment on a straight, recently renovated stretch of track as "really strange", while Renfe's president Álvaro Fernández Heredia said it was too early to talk about the cause and that "human error is practically ruled out".

Key Topics

World, Adamuz Collision, Pedro Sánchez, Óscar Puente, Iryo, Renfe