The images from above of the train disaster in Spain, there were also 5 Italians on board: what caused the accident?

The images taken from above, released by the Guardia Civil, give an idea of ​​the devastation left by the violent collision between two high-speed trains in Spain. Wagons went off the tracks, others crashed down an embankment, wreckage scattered and several rescue teams busy providing aid to the injured. This is the frightening scenario of the train accident that occurred this morning on the Madrid-Seville line, near Urda, in the province of Toledo.

The toll is currently at least 64 people victims, according to the latest data communicated by the authorities of Castile-La Mancha; There are also dozens of injured people, some in very serious conditions, while recovery operations for the victims continue.

The collision occurred at 8.54am, when an AVE train of the Spanish company Renfe, departing from Madrid and headed for Seville, reached and violently hit a convoy of the Iryo company which was stopped on the tracks.

Over 540 people (including Italians) were traveling on board the two trains

The impact affected the rear part of the Iryo convoy. According to initial reconstructions, the locomotive of the Renfe train collided with the last carriage of the stopped train, causing the derailment of several carriages. Rescuers worked to extract passengers from the damaged carriages and transport the injured to area hospitals. The spokeswoman for the regional government, Esther Padilla, confirmed that all the injured had been evacuated from the convoys, while recovery operations for the bodies continued.

According to the toll of the regional authorities, 40 of the victims were traveling on the Iryo train and 24 on the Renfe AVE. Some Italian citizens were also involved in the accident. The Farnesina announced that five compatriots were traveling on the Iryo convoy: four are in good condition, while investigations into the situation of the fifth are still underway. In the meantime, the Italian consul in Madrid has reached the site of the tragedy and is maintaining contact with the Spanish authorities.

How could this happen? The human error hypothesis

The exact dynamics of the devastating accident are still to be clarified. The investigations are now focusing on what happened in the minutes before the collision. According to government sources quoted by the Spanish newspaper El País, a malfunction of the main signaling system would have forced operators to manage railway traffic through alternative procedures.

In this situation, an operator would have mistakenly authorized the restart of the Renfe train, even though the Iryo convoy was still stopped along the same route. This is one of the hypotheses being examined by investigators, but the causes of the accident have not yet been definitively ascertained. It remains to be clarified why the safety devices failed to avoid the collision.

Relief mobilized and railway connections interrupted

The severity of the accident led to the activation of the regional civil protection plan. Firefighters, ambulances, Guardia Civil officers and units specialized in emergency operations intervened on site. The intervention of the Spanish military emergency unit, the UME, was also requested. Hospitals in the province of Toledo were alerted to accommodate the injured, while the authorities appealed to the population for blood donations. In the meantime, high-speed rail traffic between Madrid and Andalusia has been suspended in both directions, with serious repercussions on connections.

The disaster that occurred this morning represents the second very serious accident to hit Spanish high-speed rail in 2026. Last January 18, in the province of Córdoba, a collision between two trains of the Renfe and Iryo companies caused 45 deaths and 123 injuries. Two tragedies that occurred in the same year brought railway safety, infrastructure maintenance and the functioning of traffic control systems back to the center of attention.