It is the deadliest accident since 2013
The train collision in Adamuz (Córdoba), in Spain, on Sunday, caused the death of at least 39 people and left more than a hundred injured, 48 of whom are hospitalized, 12 in intensive care. The train that derailed first was a private train traveling from Malaga, on the country’s south coast, to Madrid. The rear carriages of that convoy fell onto the opposite track, colliding with a train from the Spanish national railway company, which was heading towards the city of Huelva, west of Seville.
At the site, authorities continue to try to find victims who may still be trapped in the rubble, so it is feared that the number of deaths and injuries could still increase.
Sunday’s accident was the deadliest in Spain since 2013, when 80 people died after a train left a curved section of track in the northwest of the country.
This is what is known about the accident.
What caused the accident?
It’s not yet known. However, according to the president of Renfe, 20 seconds passed between the derailment and the collision of the two trains.
“The Automatic Speed Control System (LDZ) is equipped in such a way that, when there is an obstacle on the track, it blocks the groove and prevents the train from moving and orders emergency braking. But it appears that the time interval between one train and another that crossed in opposite directions was 20 seconds, so it is impossible for this mechanism to have worked,” he said.
Álvaro Fernández Heredia also mentioned that last May parts of the railway had been replaced so that “it should be in excellent condition”, but that no scenario can be ruled out.
“The first two carriages of the Renfe train are absolutely disintegrated and access to them is very complicated”, said Fernández Heredia, adding that “the work will take time and there are still bodies trapped” in the carriages.
It was an accident “under strange circumstances”, so “the worst thing we can do now is speculate”, the person responsible also noted, stressing that the causes of the accident will take time to be known, as will the resumption of railway circulation on this high-speed line.
Who are the victims?
The Guardia Civil is working to identify the bodies and sent agents specialized in DNA and fingerprints to the scene, including some who participated in 2024 in the work of assigning names to DANA victims.
Offices were also opened at the Huelva and Córdoba police stations to make it easier for immediate family members of the fatal victims and those missing to communicate data, as well as for the collection of DNA.
According to sources from the armed forces, cited by El País, this is the main priority after the implementation of the medical-legal and scientific police action protocol in events with multiple victims.
Members of the Central Ocular Inspection Team (ECIO), also from the Guardia Civil Criminalistics Service, are at the scene of the accident to collect images and samples to investigate the causes of the accident. The Judicial Police Unit of the Córdoba Command took charge of the investigations.
Train had been inspected three days ago
According to a statement from Iryo, the company responsible for one of the trains involved in the collision, “train 6189, which was on the Malaga–Madrid route, departed yesterday, Sunday, January 18, from the origin station at 6:40 pm, with 289 passengers, four crew members and a driver on board.”
“At 19:45, and for reasons still unknown, the train invaded the adjacent track. As the Minister of Transport indicated yesterday, this was an accident that occurred on a straight section of the line, and the train in circulation was of new construction, manufactured in 2022, and whose last inspection was carried out on January 15th”, the note reads.
In other words, three days before the accident, the Iryo train was subject to inspection.
Trains ran below maximum speed
The section where the accident occurred is a straight line and traffic is limited to 250 kilometers per hour. The trains involved in the collision were traveling at 205 and 210 km/h, according to Renfe.
