Three days of national mourning have been declared in Spain starting today, following the train accident that killed at least 40 people on Sunday night in Andalusia, in the Adamoth region, about 35 kilometers from Cordoba.
The death toll is expected to be even higher as 12 injured people are being treated in intensive care units while searches continue in the bodies of the two trains for any bodies trapped in the carriages.
The Public Disaster Response Authority (CID) said in a statement last night that 43 reports of disappearances had been made by relatives of victims. Among those recovered, five have been identified through autopsies.
There is also no clear number of people who have not been identified. The total number of passengers traveling on both trains is provisionally estimated at 527 people, a number that far exceeds the 300 people on Iryo and 186 on Alvia reported by the Ministry of Transport, citing data from the two companies.
The president of the autonomous region of Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno, estimated last night that the authorities would be able to say "with certainty" the number of victims within the "next 24 to 48 hours."
How the derailment and violent collision happened
On Sunday at 19:45 (local time; 20:45 Greek time), two high-speed trains traveling in opposite directions on adjacent tracks collided, carrying around 500 passengers in total.
Cause: The Iryo train—a private railway company, a subsidiary of the Italian state-owned group Ferrovie dello Stato (Trenitalia), which holds 51% of its share capital—derailed and its carriages crossed onto nearby tracks, causing a train owned by Renfe, the Spanish public railway company, to crash into them.
Four carriages of the Renfe train were completely derailed and overturned, two of them appear to have been crushed in the collision, aerial footage released by the Spanish gendarmerie shows.
Hundreds of meters away, the red Iryo train could be seen, with most of the carriages still on the tracks, but the last two leaning to the side.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised that the findings of the investigation into the causes and circumstances of the tragedy would be made public with "absolute transparency," that "the truth" would be revealed.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente spoke of a "very strange" accident, which occurred on a straight line and on a section of tracks that had recently been maintained and modernized, while Renfe president Alvaro Fernandez Heredia stressed that "human error has been practically ruled out."
The royal family is expected to visit the area.
The resumption of rail services connecting Madrid with major cities in Andalusia is expected to take place "around February 2", given the damage to the rails, according to Transport Minister Puente.
Source: skai.gr
