‘I held this woman in my arms. She died’: Spain mourns train crash victims

What the report says

Spain is mourning after a deadly high-speed rail collision near Urda, in central Spain, on Wednesday morning, according to Al Jazeera. The crash involved a Renfe passenger train travelling from Madrid to Seville and a stationary locomotive on the line ahead. Passengers and emergency crews described scenes of severe destruction, and the article says at least 68 people were killed and 77 were injured.

Al Jazeera reported that Spain’s national rail operator, Renfe, opened an investigation, while a judicial probe is expected to follow. Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the train was allowed to continue despite an active red signal, which had been triggered after a computer communications failure. He said the order from the central command centre was “inexplicable” and argued the train engineers were not to blame. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared three days of national mourning and said the disaster was not acceptable for a country like Spain.

The crash has intensified debate over railway safety and maintenance in Spain. The article notes that it comes about nine months after another fatal crash on the same line near Adamuz, which had already prompted criticism of the government’s handling of rail safety. Opposition leaders are calling for a full, independent review of the network, and rail unions had planned a protest over what they say is a poor safety record.

Al Jazeera also placed the accident in the context of Spain’s expanding high-speed rail use, saying ridership has grown quickly while maintenance spending has lagged behind some comparable European networks.