ADAMUZ: Spanish police said Monday that at least 39 people died in the high-speed train collision Sunday in southern Spain and rescue efforts were continuing.
The collision occurred when the tail end of a train traveling between Malaga and Madrid with some 300 passengers went off the rails near Cordoba at 7:45 p.m. It slammed into an incoming train from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city, according to rail operator Adif.
Earlier in the morning, Andalusian regional leader Juan Moreno said 75 passengers were hospitalized, 15 in serious condition. Most were taken to Cordoba, about 390 kilometers (242 miles) south of Madrid.
The Spanish Red Cross set up a help center in the town of Adamuz, near the crash site, offering assistance to emergency services and people seeking information. Members of Spain’s civil guard and civil defense worked on site throughout the night.
Video and photos showed twisted train cars lying on their sides under floodlights. Passengers reported climbing out of smashed windows, with some using emergency hammers to break the windows, according to Salvador Jiménez, a journalist for Spanish broadcaster RTVE, who was on board one of the derailed trains.
He told the network by phone that “there was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed.”
Officials call accident ‘strange’
Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente early Monday said the cause of the crash was unknown.
He called it “a truly strange” incident because it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May. He also said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old. That train belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train, which took the brunt of the impact, was part of Spain’s public train company Renfe.
According to Puente, the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train, knocking its first two carriages off the track and down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. He said the worst damage was to the front section of the Renfe train.
When asked by reporters how long an inquiry into the crash’s cause could take, he said it could be a month.
Spain leads Europe in high-speed trains
Spain has the largest high-speed rail network in Europe for trains moving over 250 kph (155 mph), with more than 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) of track, according to the European Union.
The network is a popular, competitively priced and safe mode of transport. Renfe said more than 25 million passengers took one of its high-speed trains in 2024.
Train services between Madrid and cities in Andalusia were cancelled Monday.
Spain’s worst train accident this century occurred in 2013, when 80 people died after a train derailed in the country’s northwest. An investigation concluded the train was traveling 179 kph (111 mph) on a stretch with an 80 kph (50 mph) speed limit when it left the tracks.
Toll in Spain train collision rises to at least 39 dead as rescue efforts continue
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Toll in Spain train collision rises to at least 39 dead as rescue efforts continue
- The accident happened near Adamuz, in Cordoba province. So far, 21 people have been confirmed dead by police
UK court jails Christian camp leader for drugging, sexually abusing boys
- Ruben admitted offenses relating to ill-treatment of children and sexual abuse — as well as to drugging his wife, who was volunteering at the camp, in order to avoid detection
LONDON: A court in England on Friday jailed a man for more than 31 years for drugging and sexually abusing young boys at a Christian summer camp he led last summer.
Police say they are now talking to other groups he worked with in the past as part of an ongoing investigation.
Former vet Jon Ruben, 76, was leading the camp last July, said a statement from prosecutors released after Friday’s judgment.
He laced sweets with sedatives and tricked children at the camp into eating them by encouraging them to take part in a game.
“Later on, while the boys were heavily asleep, he went into their dormitory and chose individual boys to sexually abuse them,” said prosecutors.
Volunteers at the camp in Leicestershire, central England, raised the alarm after finding the children still nauseous, drowsy and disoriented the next day.
Eight boys aged between eight and 11 were taken to hospital and Ruben was arrested.
Investigators found syringes and sedatives at the camp location.
On his devices they found indecent images of children as well as evidence he had procured tranquilizer drugs and tried to join an online paedophile network.
Ruben admitted offenses relating to ill-treatment of children and sexual abuse — as well as to drugging his wife, who was volunteering at the camp, in order to avoid detection.
A court in Leicester sentenced him on Friday to a total of 31 years and 10 months behind bars under special provisions for defendants designated by prosecutors as particularly dangerous.
Leicestershire police said the investigation into Ruben was still “very much ongoing.”
Officers are contacting schools and youth organizations in central England with whom Ruben was involved with over the past two decades.
