TOLEDO, Spain — At least 30 people are dead after a high-speed train crashed into the rear of a stopped train in Toledo in central Spain.
Two cars derailed in the crash, which was the country’s second major crash this year, The Associated Press reported. The two trains, both high-speed, were traveling in the same direction from Madrid to Seville. The cause of the crash is not yet known.
One train was owned by Renfe, a state-owned company; the other was owned by Iryo, a private rail company. Both companies had been involved in a deadly crash in January. In that incident, 45 people died, making it the deadliest crash in Spain since 80 were killed in a crash in 2013.
The AP reported that the Renfe hit the Iryo train. The Iryo train was either stopped or moving at a low speed, CNN reported.
There were 397 passengers onboard the RENFE train and 147 passengers on the IRYO one.
Spokesperson for the Castilla La Mancha region, Esther Padilla, initially said there were 10 deaths in Wednesday’s crash but said, “that number would surely rise.”
One woman who was on one of the trains called it “awful,” saying that people were thrown in the air, CNN reported.
The woman, identified only as Patricia, said she was in the third car in the Renfe train. She said her train had been stopped for about 20 minutes before the crash because there was a lot of traffic.
“After that we departed, and maybe not after even three minutes, there was a crash,” she said, according to CNN.
“Some people were hurled into the air. Not me. I was on the left side so I suppose that’s why I wasn’t hurled in the air, but it was awful.”She added, “Some of the train structure got into our train, in our carriage, and our carriage wasn’t even the worst.”
Rail service between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia was halted due to the crash.
A shelter was opened in Urda, Toledo, with the Red Cross providing food and helping the injured, CNN reported.
People of several nationalities were on the train. Staff from the US Embassy in Spain have arrived on site.
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