Spain train crash near Urda kills at least 68 as leaked audio points to signalling clearance

At least 68 people died on Wednesday when a high-speed train bound for Seville from Madrid ran into a stopped train in central Spain. BBC News gave the toll as 69, while PBS NewsHour reported at least 68. Dozens of others were hurt.

PBS said the crash took place close to Urda, a town about 90 miles south of the capital, and that both trains left the rails, with at least one split apart. The BBC reported that the moving train belonged to state operator Renfe and held 397 passengers, while the stalled one, operated by private company Iryo, had 147 aboard. One carriage caught fire, according to the BBC.

The BBC reported that a computer fault in the automatic signalling system had brought traffic on that stretch to a stop. Spain's transport minister said the order for the Renfe train to move on was a mistake, the BBC reported. Minister Óscar Puente described the choice to restart trains with no speed limit as "inexplicable," according to the BBC.

Recordings leaked to Spanish media, among them El País and RTVE, appear to capture a controller telling the Renfe driver to carry on at normal speed using a backup signalling procedure, even though the Iryo train was halted roughly 25km farther along, the BBC reported. A later clip suggests the Iryo driver informed controllers the train still would not start. Several left-wing politicians condemned the leak, and Podemos candidate Irene Montero argued that one worker should not carry the blame, the BBC said.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez went to the scene and vowed to "get to the bottom of every last detail of this tragedy," the BBC reported. On Thursday, the first of three national mourning days, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia met injured passengers at a Toledo hospital.

The BBC called it Spain's deadliest crash since 2013. PBS noted it was the second fatal rail disaster in the country this year: in January, a train from the same operator on the same line came off the tracks and struck another, leaving 46 dead. PBS also reported that high-speed trains linking Madrid with Andalusia have stopped running.

The crash comes weeks before a snap vote on 29 November, the BBC said, adding that most parties halted campaigning, with the far-right Vox party the exception. Broadcaster TVE, cited by the BBC, estimated that about 1,500 protesters rallied overnight at the transport ministry, with many demanding that Sánchez and Puente step down. Officers fired tear gas once bottles and flares were thrown, and nobody was reported hurt or detained.

Train drivers went ahead with a strike on Thursday that had been scheduled earlier. The Spanish Civil Guard told the BBC that over 900 of its personnel were at work and that its main task now was identifying victims, asking relatives to provide DNA samples.

Compiled by True News from reporting by BBC News and PBS NewsHour. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/586