At Least 10 Killed After High-Speed Train Hits Another in Central Spain

At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday when a high-speed train rammed into the back of another train that had come to a halt in central Spain, authorities said. The impact knocked two cars off the tracks.

Esther Padilla, spokeswoman for the Castilla La Mancha region, said officials could confirm 10 deaths so far. She cautioned that "that number will surely rise."

Spain's rail system operator ADIF said the collision happened on Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo. Train service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.

Speaking to state broadcaster TVE, Padilla said both trains were high-speed services traveling in the same direction, from Madrid toward Seville. One of them ran into the tail of the other while it was stopped. She said the cause of the crash is not yet known.

The trains belonged to Spain's state-owned operator RENFE and the private company IRYO. Trains from those same two companies were also involved in a deadly collision in January. Padilla said 397 passengers were aboard the RENFE train and 147 on the IRYO train.

Manuel Galán, mayor of the nearby town of Urda, told TVE that passengers had been injured. He said civil protection authorities asked his town hall to get a sports pavilion ready so that passengers could be attended to there.

Emiliano García-Page, the regional president of Castilla La Mancha, wrote on X that he was on his way to the crash site.

The January accident in southern Spain killed 45 people when a train left the track and struck an oncoming train. It was the deadliest rail crash in the country since a 2013 collision that claimed 80 lives, and it shook public confidence in Spain's extensive high-speed rail network.