Tragic Train Derailment in Spain Leaves 5 Dead, 25 Injured

At least five people have died and 25 others are severely injured after two high-speed trains derailed in southern Spain, local emergency services say. The accident happened at 6:40pm in Adamuz near Cordoba on Sunday, local time, after the train headed for Madrid jumped onto the track in the opposite direction and hit an oncoming train, the Spanish rail network operator Adif said. Emergency services in Andalucia, the province where the accident happened, said they had recorded five deaths and 25 people with severe injuries. Adif has suspended all rail services between Madrid and the Andalucia region. 'The lights went out' A woman named Carmen posted on X that she had been on board the train to Madrid. "The lights went out." Footage posted by another train passenger, also on X, showed a rail staffer in a fluorescent jacket instructing passengers to remain in their seats in the darkened carriages, and those with first aid training to keep watch over fellow passengers. The staffer told passengers they would be evacuated when it was safe to leave, but at that moment the safest place was on the train. He also urged people to maintain mobile phone batteries to be able to use their torches when they disembarked. The passenger wrote: "In our carriage we're well but we don't know about the other carriages. There's smoke and they're calling for a doctor." The regional government has activated emergency protocols to mobilise more resources to the accident site. Locals posted on social media that a building would be set up in the village nearest the crash for evacuated passengers to be taken to. Salvador Jimenez, a journalist for RTVE, told the Spanish broadcaster that passengers had used emergency hammers to smash the windows and climb out, and they had seen two people taken out of the overturned carriages on stretchers. "There's a certain uncertainty about when we'll get to Madrid, where we'll spend the night, we've had no message from the train company yet," he said, speaking from the scene of the crash. "It's very cold but here we are." Loading