The death toll from Spain’s high-speed train collision rose to 69 on Thursday as emergency crews continued searching through mangled carriages for victims, intensifying scrutiny of railway safety after the country’s second fatal high-speed rail crash this year.
Cranes worked through the night to lift wreckage from the crash site near Urda in the central province of Toledo, where rescuers recovered additional human remains from damaged carriages. Authorities continued efforts to identify the victims as relatives sought information about missing family members.
The collision on Oct. 28 involved a high-speed train operated by state-owned Renfe and a stationary train run by private operator Iryo. Both were traveling from Madrid toward Seville when the Renfe train struck the rear of the Iryo service, sending carriages off the tracks and down an embankment.
The disaster is Europe’s deadliest train accident since a derailment in Santiago de Compostela in 2013, according to Reuters. It has prompted renewed questions about railway safety systems, operational decisions and investment in Spain’s extensive high-speed rail network.
Investigation Focuses on Signaling Failure and Control Center Decision
Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the collision occurred after a signaling-related computer failure disrupted rail operations along a section of the Madrid-Seville high-speed line.
According to Puente, several trains stopped after the failure, but a Renfe train was subsequently authorized to resume its journey at normal speed despite the stationary Iryo train ahead.
The government has described the decision to authorize the Renfe service to proceed as “inexplicable.” Investigators are examining the sequence of events, including how the signaling disruption was handled and why the moving train was permitted to continue without speed restrictions.
“There was a red signal prohibiting movement, yet the train was authorized to proceed,” the transportation minister said at a press conference on Wednesday. “It is a decision made under inexplicable circumstances.”
Preliminary accounts indicate that the failure affected a roughly 63-kilometer (39-mile) stretch of track. The disruption required railway infrastructure operator ADIF, which manages Spain’s rail network, to take manual control of train movements.
Reports of audio recordings published by Spanish media have added to scrutiny of communications between the control center and the train drivers before the collision. The recordings reportedly include instructions for the trains to resume normal operations, followed by a report from the Iryo driver that her train remained stationary.
The recordings and operational records are expected to form part of the evidence examined by investigators. The precise chain of decisions leading to the collision has not yet been established through a completed investigation.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pledged a thorough inquiry into the disaster, saying that any negligence or safety-system failures would be addressed.
Rescue Operations Continue as Authorities Identify Victims
Emergency personnel worked through the night to search the wreckage, using cranes and other heavy equipment to access damaged carriages. Authorities also deployed search dogs and drones as they attempted to locate victims and recover remains.
Regional leader Emiliano García-Page confirmed that the death toll had risen to 69 on Oct. 29. Reuters reported that 57 injured people remained in hospital, while identification efforts continued.
Spain’s Civil Guard opened identification offices in several cities, including Madrid, Toledo, Córdoba and Seville, to collect DNA samples from relatives of missing passengers. Authorities were working to establish the identities of those killed and provide information to their families.
The crash involved hundreds of passengers aboard the two trains. Regional figures cited in reports put the Renfe train’s passenger count at approximately 393 to 397, while the Iryo train was carrying around 147 to 151 people. The figures varied across preliminary updates.
Among those killed was Fátima Báñez, a former Spanish labor minister who chaired the social and corporate responsibility arm of the country’s employers’ association. A member of Spain’s Civil Guard also died in the collision, according to the force.
Spain’s Foreign Ministry said information available at the time indicated that 42 foreign citizens from seven countries were involved in the crash. One foreign citizen had died and at least seven others were injured.
Survivors described a violent impact that threw passengers from their seats and left people trapped beneath seats and debris. Some passengers broke windows to escape the damaged carriages.
The scale of the destruction complicated rescue operations, with emergency workers continuing to examine overturned and severely damaged sections of the trains.
Rail Safety Under Renewed Scrutiny
The collision has intensified debate over the safety of Spain’s high-speed railway system, which has long been regarded as a major national infrastructure achievement.
The Oct. 28 disaster followed another deadly collision in January involving Renfe and Iryo trains near Adamuz in Córdoba province, where 46 people died. Although both incidents involved the same rail operators, Sánchez said the causes appeared to be unrelated.
Railway unions have blamed insufficient investment and a lack of political will to strengthen safety protections. They also said discussions following the January accident were abandoned by the government in April.
Train drivers proceeded with a previously planned strike on Oct. 29 to demand greater investment in railway safety.
“We will continue demanding the necessary measures to make this sector safe again … It must have all the safety systems required to maintain the quality standards we have always had,” said Diego Martín of the train drivers’ union SEMAF.
“We cannot tolerate, under any circumstances, this type of incident happening again,” he said at Madrid’s Atocha railway station.
Renfe said the strike had caused significant disruption to services. The state-owned operator offered passengers the option to change or cancel tickets free of charge and said affected customers would be notified.
Puente rejected broader criticism of the railway system’s safety, arguing that the network remained reliable despite the limitations associated with equipment and human actions.
Speaking on Wednesday, he said it was “reliable and safe…with the limits of the material itself and of human action, as is the case with any form of transport.”
The investigation will need to establish whether the signaling failure, the decisions made by railway controllers or other operational and technical factors contributed to the collision. The findings could have implications for safety procedures and investment priorities across Spain’s rail network.
Three Days of National Mourning Declared
The Spanish government declared three days of national mourning beginning Oct. 29 in remembrance of those killed. Sánchez visited the crash site in Toledo province as emergency services continued their work. “All of Spain is in mourning,” he said.
The prime minister said authorities were working to support victims and their families while establishing the circumstances surrounding the collision.
“We are working day and night not only to support the victims’ families, but also to establish every last detail of this tragedy and strengthen safety measures to ensure it never happens again,” he said.
Pope Leo also sent condolences to the families of those killed, expressed wishes for the injured to recover quickly and offered support to everyone affected, the Vatican said. He also encouraged rescue workers to continue their efforts.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said the emergency response involved more than 800 military and police personnel, alongside hundreds of vehicles, helicopters, drones, a mobile command post and search dogs.
A judge in Toledo imposed a two-kilometer exclusion zone around the crash site, restricting access to personnel involved in emergency response, security, health care and judicial work.
Political Fallout Ahead of November Election
The disaster has disrupted political campaigning ahead of Spain’s Nov. 29 snap election. Leaders of the country’s two main political parties suspended campaign events following the collision.
Sánchez said the investigation would determine whether negligence or failures in safety systems contributed to the tragedy. The government has also indicated that compensation for victims’ families would be provided at a later stage.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the center-right People’s Party, visited Urda, where residents had joined emergency workers in helping survivors after the collision.
The crash has placed railway safety at the center of public debate, with questions extending beyond the immediate circumstances of the collision to the resilience of operational safeguards during technical failures.
As investigators examine the evidence and emergency crews complete the recovery operation, the priority remains identifying the dead, supporting survivors and establishing how a train was allowed to travel toward a stationary service on the same line.
The findings will be closely watched as Spain seeks to determine the causes of its latest rail disaster and prevent a recurrence.