Spain began three days of mourning on Thursday after its second high-speed rail collision this year killed 68 people and injured over 100, as relatives sought news of missing loved ones.
The crash occurred on Wednesday morning in Castilla-La Mancha when a state-run Renfe train struck the back of a stationary train operated by private company Iryo.
Emergency crews searched the wreckage overnight near the village of Urda, using cranes to lift mangled metal. Police drones resumed flights over the site at daybreak.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said an automatic control system had failed along 69 kilometres of track, stopping trains. The control centre later resumed traffic in what he called “inexplicable circumstances”, despite having time to identify and correct the error.
The disaster has raised fresh safety concerns after a January collision in Andalusia killed 46 people when a derailed train crossed onto an adjacent track. That investigation remains ongoing.
Relatives seek answers
A school in Urda, about 130 kilometres south of Madrid, was opened to relatives seeking information about loved ones.
Red Cross workers and psychologists provided support to families, while the Civil Guard established offices in Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba and Seville to collect DNA samples and help identify victims.
Survivors described the force of the collision and the chaos inside the trains.
Josimar Medina, a 31-year-old Peruvian holidaying in Spain, said he had been asleep when he woke up “in the air”.
Pablo Mejia, 42, said a last-minute seat change had saved his life. He described a powerful impact, passengers piled on top of one another and seats ripped out.
“I think I've been born again,” he told AFP.
Flags flew at half-mast as official ceremonies and public events were cancelled or scaled back.
