Train accident in Spain: What happened in Toledo and why has the country witnessed another deadly rail accident months after January tragedy?

Train accident Spain: As many as 39 people lost their lives after two trains collided just after 9am local time (8am UK time) on the line connecting Madrid to Spain's southern Andalusia region. The accident occurred on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed rail line near Urda, where a Renfe AVE train and an Iryo train collided, prompting a major emergency response involving local, regional and national authorities. This is the second deadly high-speed rail crash Spain has seen this year.

Spanish media reported that the today's incident could be worse than the high-speed train crash that killed dozens in January, according to a local journalist. Simon Hunter, a freelance journalist based in Madrid, told Sky News the pictures coming from this morning's crash are "absolutely devastating".

Spain train accident: Here's what happened

The incident, involving services operated by Iryo and Renfe, occurred between the towns of Los Yebenes and Urda in the Toledo province. According to Spanish media, one of the trains was stationary at the time of the crash. Several carriages plunged down an embankment, according to Castilla-La Mancha regional spokesperson Esther Padilla. The Iryo train was carrying 147 people, while the AVE train was carrying 397 passengers, as per Sky News. Local authorities told Sky News at least 39 people have been killed, with the total number of casualties yet to be determined.

"We heard a massive roar, a truly ​enormous thud ‌that went on for 10 seconds as if the train were about to derail," one passenger, Miguel, told local radio station COPE. "Through the right-hand window, we could see a wrecked train – I imagine it must have been the other one." Images from the accident scene showed at least two severely damaged train carriages flipped over on their side after tumbling down an embankment.

Why has Spain witnessed another accident?

The collision comes just months after another devastating rail disaster near Adamuz in Andalusia in January. In that accident, a high-speed train derailed and collided with an oncoming train, killing 46 people and injuring more than 150.

The crash was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people. The January incident shook the confidence the European country has in its extensive high-speed rail network.

The Civil Guard’s experts identified an initial “anomaly” at kilometre marker 318.681, the exact location where an Alvia train travelling from Huelva to Madrid derailed on January 18.

The final report from the on-site technical inspection recorded a “complete transverse fracture” in the right-hand rail, located at a welded joint between two rail sections. Investigators also found a 32-centimetre piece of rail on the track ballast, matching the gap between the broken rail sections.

Although the report does not establish that the weld failure directly caused the crash, the findings support the Civil Guard’s earlier main theory that a broken rail at a welded joint caused the accident.