At least 30 people are dead after two high-speed trains collided in the Spanish province of Toledo, according to the Castilla-La Mancha regional government.
Dozens more are injured.
The collision occurred on Wednesday morning before 9:00 a.m. local time near the town of Urda.
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Spain’s state-owned operator Renfe, carrying 397 passengers, collided with another train from the private operator Iryo, carrying 147 passengers.
Both trains were traveling from Madrid to Seville. Preliminary investigations indicate that the Renfe train struck the Iryo train from behind while the Iryo train was stopped or moving at a low speed.
The collision caused two Iryo carriages to derail and tumble down an embankment. Eyewitnesses described a brutal impact that threw passengers from their seats.
Rail service has been suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.
Spain’s Interior Ministry has deployed emergency units to manage the scene, while the mayor of Urda set up an emergency pavilion to handle the injured and remaining passengers.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he was “shocked by the serious train incident.”
The disaster has sent shock waves through the country as the third rail incident in Spain this year. This follows a deadly high-speed crash near Adamuz, in Córdoba province, in January that killed 46 people. Trains from Renfe and Iryo were also involved in that collision.
Two days later, a commuter train derailed near Gelida, about 23 miles outside Barcelona, after a retaining wall collapsed onto the tracks during heavy rain. The crash killed a trainee driver and injured 37 people.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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