Spain has declared three days of national mourning starting Thursday in memory of the 68 people who lost their lives in one of Europe's deadliest train accidents.
Details of the accident
On Wednesday morning, a high-speed train operated by the state-run RENFE collided with the rear of a stationary train belonging to the private Spanish company Iryo in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha, south of Madrid.
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A British tourist who was rescued from the RENFE train said: "Suddenly, everything started to collapse." He added: "We realized that carriage two, carriage one, were all destroyed. There was blood everywhere."
Rescue efforts
Rescue teams continued to search through the rubble overnight for survivors and bodies, using cranes to move wreckage.
Relatives of the passengers gathered at nearby centers to obtain information about their missing loved ones. Red Cross teams also provided support to the families.
Psychological experts from the Red Cross, including Carmen García, stated that many individuals are in shock and "still cannot comprehend what has happened."
Authorities are collecting DNA samples from relatives in Madrid, Toledo, Córdoba, and Sevilla to identify the missing.
Questions about railway safety
Wednesday's accident was the second high-speed train incident in Spain this year and has raised new questions about railway safety. Transport Minister Oscar Puente attributed the accident to a "unjustifiable" decision that allowed a train to continue after its automatic control system failed in a section of the track.
He stated that the RENFE high-speed train had traveled about 25 kilometers before colliding with the stationary Iryo train. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who visited the accident site, promised that a thorough investigation would be conducted and measures would be taken to enhance railway safety.
Sánchez said: "It is clear that we need to strengthen the safety of our train services to rebuild trust in our high-speed rail system." He also deemed it unacceptable for a country like Spain to experience two high-speed train accidents in one year.
In January, 46 people died when a high-speed train derailed and collided with another train in the southern Andalusia region.
The latest incident comes just weeks before Spain's general elections on November 29.
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