At least 40 dead, dozens injured after high-speed trains collide in Spain

The nationalities of the victims are still unknown.

Andalusia's regional president, Juanma Moreno, said 75 passengers were hospitalized, including 15 in very serious condition. The region was “heartbroken,” he added on X.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez promised a “thorough and absolutely transparent” investigation into the crash at a news conference in Adamuz, where many locals helped emergency services handle the influx of passengers overnight. “Today is a day of pain for all of Spain,” he said.

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Earlier his office said that he would not travel to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which started Monday.

Adif, which manages Spain’s state-owned railway infrastructure, said high-speed rail services between Madrid and a number of cities in Andalusia would be suspended Monday in the aftermath of the collision.

The cause of the accident was not yet confirmed, but Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente called it “truly strange” because it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May.

He said the train that jumped the track was less than four years old. That train belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train, which took the brunt of the impact, was part of Spain’s public train company, Renfe.

Puente added that the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train, knocking its first two carriages off the track and down a 13-foot slope. He said the worst damage was to the front section of the Renfe train.

Iryo said in a post on X that it “deeply regretted” what happened and had activated all emergency protocols. Renfe chief Álvaro Fernández Heredia called the incident “a tragedy that affects us all.”

Video verified by NBC News showed the aftermath of the accident, with one of the badly mangled trains leaning on its side as a passenger tries to climb out of the window.

Salvador Jiménez, a journalist for Spanish broadcaster RTVE, was on board one of the derailed trains and told the network by phone that “there was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed.”

He said passengers used emergency hammers to break the windows, and that some had walked away without serious injuries.