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Spain begins 3 days of nationalist mourning connected Tuesday (January 20, 2026) for the 40 radical killed successful a high-speed bid clang that the Prime Minister has vowed to investigate.
The clang precocious connected Sunday (January 18, 2026) is Spain's deadliest bid mishap since 2013, erstwhile 80 radical died aft a bid veered disconnected a curved conception of way extracurricular the northwestern metropolis of Santiago de Compostela.
The latest catastrophe took spot erstwhile a bid operated by obstruction institution Iryo, travelling from Malaga to Madrid, derailed adjacent Adamuz successful the confederate Andalusia region.
It crossed onto the different track, wherever it crashed into an oncoming train, which besides derailed.
"This is simply a time of sorrow for each of Spain, for our full country," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters during a sojourn to Adamuz connected Monday arsenic helium declared 3 days of mourning.
"We volition uncover the answer, and erstwhile the origin of this calamity is determined, we volition contiguous it with implicit transparency."
Forty deaths person been confirmed owed to the crash, the caput of Andalucia's determination government, Juan Manuel Moreno, told a quality conference, raising the toll from 39.
It would instrumentality 24-48 hours "to cognize with certainty however galore deaths person resulted from this unspeakable accident," helium added.
Heavy machinery was deployed connected Monday to assistance the astir severely damaged bid carriages and springiness rescuers amended entree to the tract of the disaster.
Over 120 radical were injured, with 41 inactive successful hospitals successful the adjacent metropolis of Cordoba, Moreno said.
Relatives and friends of missing passengers person turned to societal media, posting photos successful an effort to find them.
'Extremely strange'
Aerial footage of the clang tract from Spain's Guardia Civil constabulary unit showed the 2 trains acold apart, arsenic rescuers successful high-visibility neon vests worked nearby.
Unlike the 2013 accident, the derailment occurred connected a consecutive conception of track, and the trains were travelling wrong the velocity limit, officials said.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the archetypal bid to derail was "practically new" and the conception of the way wherever the catastrophe happened had been precocious renovated, making the mishap "extremely strange".
Train relation Iryo said the locomotive was built successful 2022 and past inspected conscionable 3 days earlier the accident. It said it "veered onto the adjacent way for inactive chartless reasons".
The institution said astir 300 radical were connected committee its work from the Andalusian metropolis of Malaga to the capital, Madrid.
Renfe, the relation of the 2nd bid travelling to the confederate metropolis of Huelva, said it was carrying 184 passengers.
Human mistake has "been practically ruled out", Renfe President Alvaro Fernandez Heredia told Spanish nationalist vigor RNE.
Heredia besides ruled retired speeding arsenic a origin of the accident. He said some trains were traveling conscionable implicit 200 kilometres (120 miles) per hour, beneath the 250 kilometres per hr bounds for that conception of track.
"It indispensable beryllium related to Iryo's rolling banal oregon an infrastructure issue," helium added.
'Strong hit'
Spain has Europe's largest high-speed obstruction network, with much than 3,000 kilometres of dedicated tracks connecting large cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Malaga.
Survivor Lucas Meriako, who was travelling connected the archetypal bid that derailed, told La Sexta tv that it looked "like a fearfulness movie".
"We felt a precise beardown deed from down and the feeling that the full bid was astir to collapse, break... determination were galore injured owed to the glass," helium said.
In Adamuz, wherever achromatic buildings gleam among orange-lined streets, residents rushed to the municipality hallway with supplies arsenic quality of the catastrophe spread.
"We started bringing water, blankets, everything we could," Manuel Munoz, a 60-year-old olive lipid mill worker, told AFP.
Among those offering condolences were Pope Leo XIV and French President Emmanuel Macron.
