Rescue work is still going on near Urda in central Spain , more than 12 hours after two high-speed trains collided . At least 68 people have died and dozens are injured.
Bright lights lit up damaged train carriages leaning on the tracks, while cranes and cutting tools were used to clear the wreckage, according to the BBC .
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also wrote on X soon after the crash : “Shocked by the serious train accident in Toledo. I remain in constant contact with the Minister of Transport, @oscar_puente_, and with the president of Castilla-La Mancha, @garciapage. He added: “Emergency services are working on the ground to assist those affected and ensure their safety, in coordination with all the involved administrations. My affection, solidarity, and support to all the victims and their families. Local leader Emiliano Garcia-Page and Education Minister Milagros Tolon took part in the vigil. This is Spain’s second major high-speed rail disaster with many deaths in less than a year. Sanchez and other political leaders also visited the site. The accident could affect the election campaign. Many analysts believed this could work in his favor. However, questions about Spain’s infrastructure and railway safety could create problems for Sanchez, who has been in power for eight years.
People in the regional centre of Toledo held a minute’s silence at 8:00pm local time for the victims, according to the BBC . In January, a crash in Adamuz killed 46 people. Sanchez has called a snap election for November 29, hoping to make housing a key issue. He said a computer failure affected the railway safety system along a 63-kilometre (40-mile) stretch of track.
As a result, all trains in the area stopped automatically.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said “The whole of Spain is grieving” during a visit to the crash site, according to the BBC. “Lives have been shattered, families have been torn apart, the pain is immense,” he said. He called it “unacceptable” for Spain to have two serious train crashes in one year. He promised to “get to the bottom of this” and find out if there was any negligence. “If there have been failures in the security system, they will be addressed with the utmost firmness,” he said. Spain’s Transport Minister Oscar Puente said an “inexplicable” wrong order from a train controller led to the crash, according to CNN.
Most political parties stopped campaigning on Wednesday after the crash, according to the BBC.
