Spain will observe three days of national mourning starting Tuesday after the devastating train collision in the southern region of Andalucía that killed at least 40 people and injured dozens more. Rescue teams continued searching through mangled carriages near the town of Adamuz on Monday, with officials warning that the death toll is likely to increase as recovery efforts progress.
The crash occurred on Sunday evening when a Madrid-bound high-speed train derailed and collided with an oncoming service on the same line. Several carriages were thrown off the tracks, some plunging down an embankment, trapping passengers inside twisted wreckage. Emergency crews worked through the night in difficult conditions, accessing the remote site via a single narrow road.
La Moncloa on X: “The Government of Spain will declare three days of national mourning for the railway accident in Adamuz. They will begin at midnight, at 24:00 today, 19 January, and will extend until midnight on Thursday 22.”
Families across Spain have been desperately seeking news of missing relatives. Police have opened identification centres and are collecting DNA samples to help identify victims. Social media has been flooded with appeals from relatives sharing photos and information in the hope of locating loved ones.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the site on Monday and pledged a full and transparent investigation. Transport officials said the derailment was “highly unusual,” particularly as it occurred on a straight section of track that had been renovated recently. While human error is thought to be unlikely, investigators are examining reports of the tragedy, which has shaken a country proud of its high-speed rail network, one of the largest in the world…