A high-speed train collided with a stationary train in central Spain on Wednesday morning, killing at least 68 people and injuring dozens more. The moving train, operated by state-owned Renfe and carrying 397 passengers, struck from behind a stopped Iryo train carrying 147 passengers near Mora and Orgaz, about 140 kilometers south of Madrid. Several carriages fell down an embankment, and one caught fire.
Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a computer failure on the stationary train triggered the crash. When the system failed, a control center in Madrid took over but made an "inexplicable" decision to instruct both trains to move again without speed restrictions, he said. Puente blamed the decision on human error.
Passengers described scenes of people thrown into the air, trapped in wreckage, and smashing windows to escape. A railway track speared through one carriage. One passenger, 22-year-old Tangui Binier on the stopped train, told the BBC that "suitcases started flying and people were screaming" and that he saw the train "completely flipped over" when he stepped outside.
Spain's Civil Guard said it would need DNA samples to identify some victims. The crash is the deadliest in Spain in 13 years. The country experienced another high-speed rail disaster near Córdoba in January on the same line that killed 46 people.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the two crashes in one year "unacceptable" and vowed to investigate whether negligence occurred. Spanish trade union CSIF demanded the transport minister resign, accusing him of blaming a traffic manager instead of taking responsibility.