Death toll in Spain train derailment rises to 39
Baku, January 19, AZERTAC
At least 39 people were killed and dozens injured after two high-speed trains collided and derailed near Cordoba on Sunday, according to EFE News Agency.
Approximately 75 people were taken to hospital, including 15 “in very serious condition”, Juanma Moreno, the president of Andalusia’s regional government, said.
The accident occurred when the last three cars of a train travelling from Malaga to Madrid’s Atocha station fell off the tracks in the town of Adamuz, and crashed onto an adjacent railway line at 7.40pm local time (6.40pm GMT).
Another train, a state-owned Renfe Alvia service that had been running in the opposite direction on the adjacent track, slammed into the overturned carriages and subsequently derailed, according to Óscar Puente, Spain’s transport minister.
The second train, which had departed from Madrid for the south-western port city of Huelva, had reportedly been travelling at a speed of 200 kilometres per hour at the time of the collision.
The front two carriages on the Alvia train plunged four metres downward after the crash, Mr Puente said, with 53 people inside.
Emergency services said “the situation is very complex” in those train cars. A number of people were trapped in the wreckage.
One of the deceased is the driver of the second train, who was just 27 years old, according to the Spanish daily El Pais.
“We are expecting a very difficult night,” said Antonio Sanz, the Andalusian minister of health, adding that the death toll “may rise”.
Approximately 400 people were on board the two trains, most of whom were Spaniards travelling to and from Madrid after the weekend.
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