Spanish Rail Crash: Families Search for Survivors After 69 Deaths

Families gathered in Toledo on Thursday, more than 24 hours after two high-speed trains collided in central Spain, searching for relatives who remain unaccounted for. The crash killed at least 69 people and injured 180 others, including 110 who were transported to hospitals.

César Vicente, an actor from Seville, traveled 495 kilometers to the site to find his father. He spent the night at a religious center converted into a base for victims' families. His father, aunt, and mother were all passengers on the RENFE train that struck an Iryo train stopped on the tracks. Vicente said he was in seat 13A. “I have my father, and I don’t know where he is. I hope to find him, oh my Lord,” Vicente said.

Relatives flooded social media with appeals for information, posting photos and describing the clothing of missing passengers. Alejandra Marroquín posted on Instagram that her sister Adriana, who wore dark blue clothes, was in car 8 of the RENFE train. The pair had not been able to contact her. “We’re still praying, we don’t know anything,” Marroquín said Thursday morning as search teams with sniffer dogs continued their work.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told reporters that the government was working to support families and improve security. “The entire government is working to respond to the victims’ families, shed light on the tragedy, and strengthen security so that this never happens again,” Sánchez said.

The collision occurred in Castilla-La Mancha, a region of about 2,500 people in the nearby town of Urda. Residents rushed to help immediately after the crash on Wednesday. David Gómez, a construction worker, told El País that he and colleagues cut through fences to access the area and treated people with first-aid kits until emergency services arrived. “People were trying to get out through the windows .. We cut through some fences to access the area and treated people with the first-aid kits we had brought until emergency services arrived,” Gómez said.

The region mobilized 1,300 emergency service personnel. More than 2,000 people in Castilla-La Mancha volunteered in the aftermath. Regional president Emiliano García-Page thanked the volunteers and noted an all-time record number of blood donations.

This is the second high-speed rail disaster in Spain this year. In January, 46 people died when a train derailed and hit another in southern Spain. The high-speed rail network is the world’s second-largest, after China’s, and had not experienced a deadly crash since it began operating more than 30 years ago until this year.