Two High-Speed Trains Collide in Spain, Killing at Least 30

A collision between two high-speed trains in central Spain on Wednesday killed at least 30 people, according to authorities. The Castilla-La Mancha region's press office confirmed the death toll to NBC News.

The crash happened shortly after 9 a.m. local time in Toledo province. ADIF, Spain's state railway infrastructure manager, reported the incident on the social network X. Esther Padilla, spokesperson for the Castilla-La Mancha region, told Spain's public broadcaster TVE that both trains were traveling in the same direction from Madrid toward Sevilla when one struck the rear of the other, which was stopped on the track. Padilla said two cars of the stationary train derailed and added that the cause was not yet known.

Padilla said the Renfe train carried about 397 people and the Iryo train carried 147 passengers. Miguel, a passenger riding in the rear car of one train, described the moment to the Spanish radio station COPE: "Escuchamos un estruendo enorme, un golpe verdaderamente tremendo que duró unos 10 segundos, como si el tren fuera a descarrilar. Por la ventanilla de la derecho pudimos ver un tren destrozado; imagino que debía ser el otro."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X that he was "profoundly distressed" by the accident and that emergency services were working at the site. He said he remained in contact with Transport Minister Oscar Puente and Castilla-La Mancha regional president Garcia Page, and offered his solidarity to the victims and their families.

Manuel Galán, mayor of Urda, a small municipality near Toledo, told TVE that emergency services asked him to prepare a sports hall to shelter the injured. Renfe set up an emergency phone line for victims' families. Iryo, an Italian-owned company, said in a statement it had activated its security protocols and was working with authorities.

The accident comes 10 months after a fatal crash in January between high-speed trains run by Renfe and Iryo on the same Madrid-Seville line. That January crash, in southern Spain, killed 45 people after a train derailed and hit another traveling in the opposite direction. The January crash was Spain's deadliest rail accident since a 2013 collision that killed 80 people.

According to the European Union, Spain has Europe's largest high-speed rail network for trains running above 155 miles per hour, with more than 1,900 miles of track.