Spain mourns 69 dead after high-speed train crash amid political tension
A high-speed train collision near Urda killed at least 69 people, prompting three days of mourning and heightened criticism of the transport ministry ahead of the national election.
At least 69 people were killed when a Renfe train rammed a stationary Iryo high-speed service near Urda, about 140 km south of Madrid, on Wednesday. Survivors described the impact as a sudden, violent jolt that threw passengers around the carriage.
Iñaki García, 60, recounted being thrown about and seeing many injured and dead in the next carriage. A young man nearby said he feared the trauma would stay with him forever.
Local residents quickly organized assistance, converting a sports hall into a makeshift hospital and providing blankets, food and water. Rosa María Domínguez described the scene as resembling a horror film.
The crash follows a similar collision on the same Madrid-Seville line nine months earlier that killed 46 people. Leaked audio from the control room and statements from transport minister Óscar Puente suggest a computer failure combined with human error may have caused the accident.
The incident has intensified scrutiny of the government of Pedro Sánchez, whose Socialist Party is trailing in opinion polls ahead of the upcoming general election. Demonstrations against the government's rail safety record saw far-right groups clash with police, while Sánchez and People's Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo visited the crash site.
Spain’s main train drivers’ union, Semaf, condemned the leaked recordings as irresponsible and announced a strike to demand that safety not be compromised for speed. A driver, Vicente Almenar, said the entire procedure failed because staff lacked visibility of what a colleague was seeing on the control screen.