Two trains wrecked south of the Spanish chief Madrid on Wednesday morning, on the high-speed row to Seville.
At smallest 69 group died in the collision, whenever a state-operated Renfe train went into the rear of a stationary train operated by the Iryo business near the town of Urda.
Here is what we cognize concerning the collision so far.
Where and whenever did the collision happen?
The collision happened at 08:53 (07:53 GMT) between municipalities Mora and Orgaz, and concerning 140km (100 miles) south of Madrid, according to an document stated by the Spanish government.
The privately run Iryo train appears to have been stationary on the state-run Renfe train barrelled into the rear of it at elevated speed. Iryo stated its train was "struck from behind" by a Renfe train "due to causes that are motionless unknown".
The collision caused several carriages to autumn downward an embankment.
All train traffic on the row was stopped at stations alongside the route.
Renfe stated services between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia were suspended.
A passenger on commission among the trains told local media there was a dense effect concerning 40 minutes into the journey.
1vanta3 / X via Anadolu / Getty Images
Transport curate Óscar Puente stated a device nonaccomplishment at concerning 08:30 on Wednesday dawn led to the first halt of six moving trains, including the two trains that subsequently collided.
"In the event of a scheme failure, the authority centre takes over," he said, adding it was the authority centre that decided to authorize the trains to move again, without any speed restrictions.
That decision, Puente said, was made "under inexplicable circumstances". It caused the Renfe train crashing into the Iryo train, which was stationary on the tracks several extend ahead.
Audio recordings obtained by Spanish media between train controllers operating in Madrid for a barrier infrastructure business in Adif in Madrid and the train drivers appear to display that one high-speed train was stated clearance to move at 08:36 equal although another several 25km onward had stalled.
In one recording, the controller tells the controller of the Renfe train to disconnect and reconnect the LZB scheme that monitors train speeds, and afterward resume the journey at normal speed.
"Disconnect and reconnect LZB. Continue your journey and afterward continue under [Lateral Signalling Block], at normal speed alongside normal operation," the authority centre controller says to the driver.
The controller replies, "At normal speed?" To which the controller says: "Yes."
Under normal protocols, the controller would be expected to continue moving at a maximum of 40km/h according to their row of sight, and not at normal speed on a track designed for speeds of up to 200km/h.
The Lateral Signaling Block is a back-up or substitute train scheme used whenever the automatic signalling or data transfer scheme fails.
In a second audio record between the controller of the Iryo train in forefront and the authority centre, the controller says the train "is stationary in forefront of the admission indication at Urda". After several exchanges, the authority centre controller tells the controller to "resume the journey" normally.
The Iryo controller afterward contacts the authority centre again, according to a afterward recording, saying they cannot commencement the train. "The train won't authorize me to authority the [security] system. That's why I am motionless stopped in forefront of the admission signal," they say.
The second record suggests that the controller had been notified that the Iryo train remained stationary as the Renfe train approached.
How many passengers were on board?
EPA
More than 540 group were on commission the two trains.
Esther Padilla, spokesman for the authorities of Castilla-La Mancha region, told TVE that among the trains - managed by the Iryo business - was carrying 146 passengers affirmative one baby, during the Renfe-managed train had 397 passengers on board.
A erstwhile authorities curate was additionally among those reported missing.
The Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) posted on X that, Fátima Báñez - who heads the organization's basis - was on commission among the trains engaged in the crash.
Eighty group were treated for injuries, according to Spanish authorities, alongside 50 of the casualties stated to be in a grave condition, and 15 additional in a crucial condition.
How have the authorities responded?
Europa Press via AP
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has stated "the entire of Spain is grieving" and that "lives have been shattered, families have been torn apart".
"The ache is immense," he stated on a sojourn to the collision site.
The authorities was "trying to decide what was the base of this tragedy, of this awful accident," he added.
"We volition get to the base of this, and if there has been any negligence, it volition arrive to light.
"If there have been failures in the safety system, they volition be addressed alongside the extreme firmness."
Opposition traditional chief Alberto Núñez Feijóo, whose People's Party leads most opinion polls onward of 29 November elections, stated it was not the day to conversation concerning governmental responsibility, but insisted "Spain has the correct to cognize what is going on alongside its infrastructure".
Most Spanish politicians cancelled all community engagements on Wednesday and suspended their ballot campaign.
However, Santiago Abascal of the far-right Vox refused to obtain part in what his gathering described as attempts to "use mourning to silence criticism" of the country's barrier infrastructure.
Three days of authoritative mourning began on Thursday.
Spain's regal family posted on X that it was "shocked and concerned" and expressed sympathy for the relatives of the deceased and those affected by the crash.
A spokesman for the EU stated the bloc was prepared to assistance Spain if needed.
A huge emergency reply was under way alongside blaze crews and helicopters at the scene.
Hospitals in the area suspended planned surgeries as they agreement alongside an influx of patients from the crash, Spanish media have reported.
A lifeblood transfusion centre in Madrid appealed for "urgent" donations. In a article on X, Centro de Transfusión stated it made the petition "in the visage of a imaginable abrupt addition in attention needs".
It reported that accommodation in Toledo, Ciudad Real and Alcázar de San Juan had cancelled procedures as casualties from the collision commencement to arrive.
The Spanish Civil Guard set up bureaus in Madrid, Toledo, Seville and Córdoba to examine reports of missing persons.
"The top precedence is the acknowledgment of the missing persons and the taking of DNA samples to be capable to find their relatives," the civic defender wrote in a article on X.
This is the second high-speed barrier tragedy in Spain this year.
