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A high-speed train derailed in southern Spain on Sunday, jumping onto the track in the opposite direction and hitting an oncoming train in an accident that authorities estimate left more than 20 people dead and dozens injured.
The evening train between Malaga and Madrid went off the rails and slammed into a train coming from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city, according to the Spanish rail operator Adif. The two trains were carrying around 500 passengers, according to media reports.
Antonio Sanz, health minister for the Andalusia region where the crash happened, said officials told him they fear the death toll may rise above 20.
Rescue operations are ongoing, he said, adding that 73 injured passengers have been taken to six different hospitals.
He said at least one passenger carriage had rolled down a four-metre slope.
Francisco Carmona, the firefighter chief of Cordoba, told Spanish national radio RNE that one of the trains was badly mangled, with at least four wagons off the rails.
The situation at the crash site “is very serious,” Sanz said. “We have a very difficult night ahead.”
The regional Civil Protection chief, Maria Belen Moya Rojas, told Canal Sur the accident happened in an area that is hard to reach.
Local people were taking blankets and water to the scene to help the victims, she said.
High-speed trains, running on an extensive national network, are a popular way to travel in Spain.
Spain’s military emergency relief units joined the deployment of other rescue units. The Red Cross also provided support to health-care officials.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that she was following “the terrible news” from Cordoba.
“Tonight you are in my thoughts,” she wrote in Spanish.
Adif said train services between Madrid and cities in Andalusia would not run Monday.