One missing as deaths from Spain rail crash hit 42, speed limits cut

The confirmed death toll from the high-speed train crash in southern Spain rose to 42 on Tuesday, according to the regional government of Andalusia, with the authorities fearing that another body could be found in the mangled wreckage.

Three bodies were recovered from the carriages during the course of the day, the Andalusian authorities said.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told state broadcaster RTVE that 43 people were listed as missing. Police were using tracker dogs to look for further victims.

Regarding the cause of the accident, Grande-Marlaska said that all theories remained open and that track damage or a fault in one of the trains could not be ruled out.

The judicial authority in Córdoba said 10 of the dead had been identified so far. No information was provided about their identities or nationalities.

The authorities called on the families of potential victims to provide DNA samples to speed up identification. Relatives complained of a lack of information on those listed as missing.

Reports on the number of injured varied. The police spoke of more than 170 after the accident, but state television later reported 122 injured. On Tuesday, nine people were still being treated in intensive care units, the regional government wrote on X.

The two high-speed trains collided at around 7:40 pm (1840 GMT) on Sunday near the town of Adamuz in the Andalusian province of Córdoba, some 30 kilometres north-east of the city of Córdoba.

An Iryo train, travelling at more than 200 kilometres per hour (km/h) and carrying more than 300 people, derailed and came to rest on the adjacent track, Spanish train operator Renfe said. An oncoming Renfe train with about 200 onboard was arriving at that precise moment, smashing into the Iryo train and also derailing.

The Iryo train was operated by the Italian company Trenitalia.

Police published a video showing a broken railway line. Transport Minister Óscar Puente said it was not clear whether this was the cause or the effect of the accident.

He said “all hypotheses remain open” as to the cause of one of the worst train accidents in the country’s history.

Network operator Adif said on Tuesday that the maximum speed for trains on the main line between Madrid and Barcelona had been reduced after the serious accident in the south.

For now, high-speed trains may travel at only 160km/h instead of 300km/h on a 150-kilometre section.

Train drivers had reported unevenness in the rails, which is to be examined overnight.

According to media reports, some drivers on the route had already voluntarily slowed on Monday to express dissatisfaction with the state of the tracks.

The normal two-and-a-half hour journey of more than 650 kilometres between the two cities increases by at least about 30 minutes under the Adif restriction, the Spanish newspapers La Vanguardia and El País reported.