Ten killed in head-on train collision near Toledo

Authorities in central Spain confirmed on Wednesday that at least ten people died after two trains collided near the town of Urda in Toledo province. The crash occurred early in the morning on a line connecting Madrid with Seville. Esther Padilla, a spokeswoman for the Castilla-La Mancha regional government, told Spanish public broadcaster TVE that the death toll would "surely rise" as rescue operations continued.

The collision involved an AVE high-speed train operated by the state railway company Renfe and a service run by the private operator Iryo. Padilla explained that both trains were moving in the same direction when the rear train struck the stationary front train. The impact caused two carriages to derail. Emergency service sources cited by El Pais reported that two carriages from the Iryo train fell down an embankment.

Records show that 397 passengers were aboard the Renfe train and 147 were on the Iryo service. Local officials mobilized a rapid response to the scene. Firefighters from surrounding towns joined three medical helicopters and two mobile intensive care units to treat the injured. Jose Luis Martínez-Almeida, the mayor of Madrid, stated on X that the capital was dispatching additional emergency medical teams and firefighters to assist.

Manuel Galan, the mayor of Urda, said civil protection authorities asked the town to convert a local sports pavilion into a temporary shelter for affected passengers. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez posted on X that he was in contact with Transport Minister Oscar Puente and regional president Emiliano Garcia-Page. Sánchez described the incident as shocking while emergency crews worked to clear the site.

Spain’s railway infrastructure operator, ADIF, suspended all high-speed rail services between Madrid and the Andalusia region. The Civil Guard deployed a specialist disaster investigation team to the location. The cause of the collision had not yet been determined. Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, said on X that the Italian consulate in Madrid was checking for affected nationals and preparing to offer assistance.

This accident occurred nine months after a derailment near Adamuz in southern Spain killed 45 people. That previous incident was the country’s deadliest rail disaster since 2013, when 80 people lost their lives in a similar crash.