10 killed after trains collide near Toledo

Ten people died on Wednesday when a high-speed train crashed into the rear of another train in the province of Toledo, central Spain. Officials confirmed the death toll but warned the count could increase as rescue efforts continue. Esther Padilla, a spokeswoman for the Castilla La Mancha region, stated that the number of fatalities "will surely rise." The collision occurred in the morning and knocked two rail cars off the tracks.

Spain's rail infrastructure manager, ADIF, suspended service between Madrid, Ciudad Real, and Andalusia following the incident. Padilla told state broadcaster TVE that both trains were moving in the same direction from Madrid toward Seville. One train struck the stationary one, and authorities have not yet determined the cause of the crash.

The accident involved two different operators: a state-owned RENFE train and a private IRYO service. Padilla reported that 397 passengers were aboard the RENFE train and 147 were on the IRYO train. These same two companies were involved in a previous fatal crash in January. Manuel Galán, the mayor of the nearby town of Urda, said passengers were injured and that civil protection teams requested a local sports pavilion be prepared for treatment.

Emiliano García-Page, the regional president of Castilla La Mancha, posted on X that he was traveling to the crash site. The Toledo collision follows a January accident in southern Spain where 45 people died after a train derailed and hit an oncoming service. That earlier incident was the deadliest in Spain since 2013, when 80 people were killed, and it raised questions about the safety of the country's high-speed rail network.