Two high-speed passenger trains collided Wednesday morning near Toledo, Spain, when a Renfe train rear-ended an Iryo train on the Madrid-Sevilla route, killing at least 30 people and derailing multiple carriages that fell down an embankment, a Castilla-La Mancha regional government spokesperson said. Spanish authorities said the Renfe service struck an apparently stopped Iryo train; local reports put about 397 passengers on the Renfe train and roughly 150 on the Iryo train. Adif, Spain’s rail authority, confirmed the trains were a Renfe and an Iryo service covering Madrid to Seville, and Renfe suspended high-speed service on the Madrid, Andalusia line. Passengers described a violent impact that threw people from a dining car, caused broken limbs and left survivors crawling from windows; local workers who heard the crash rendered first aid and found the first bodies in a nearby field. Isaac Barrientos, a spokesman for the transportation ministry, said initial reports indicated two carriages of the Iryo train derailed. The crash comes months after a January collision that killed 46 people near Adamuz and has already raised public concern about rail safety; Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez suspended scheduled meetings and expressed solidarity with victims while the opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo urged focus on rescue efforts and the Popular Party canceled campaign events. Blood donation groups in Toledo and Ciudad Real urged donors to replenish hospital reserves as rescue and recovery operations continue.
