ADAMUZ – Spanish authorities reported on Monday that at least 39 fatalities have been confirmed following a catastrophic collision involving high-speed trains in the country’s south. As recovery operations proceed, officials anticipate the death toll may climb higher.

The tragic incident unfolded Sunday at 7:45 p.m. when the rear section of a train, which was transporting around 300 passengers from Malaga to Madrid, derailed. It collided with another train heading from Madrid to Huelva, another city in southern Spain, as reported by the rail company Adif.

According to Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente, the front section of the second train, which had nearly 200 passengers on board, bore the brunt of the collision. The impact forced its first two carriages off the rails, causing them to plunge down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. Puente noted that the majority of fatalities likely occurred in these carriages.

Juanma Moreno, the president of the Andalusia region, stated on Monday morning that emergency crews continue to sift through the tangled wreckage where the derailed carriages came to rest.

“Given the extensive wreckage, it’s likely more victims will be discovered. Despite the firefighters’ commendable efforts, the use of heavy machinery to lift the carriages might reveal additional casualties,” Moreno remarked.

“Here at ground zero, when you look at this mass of twisted iron, you see the violence of the impact.”

Video and photos showed twisted train cars lying on their sides under floodlights late on Sunday. Passengers reported climbing out of smashed windows, with some using emergency hammers to break the windows, according to Salvador Jiménez, a journalist for Spanish broadcaster RTVE, who was on board one of the derailed trains.

He told the network by phone Sunday that “there was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed.”

Spanish police said 159 people were injured, of whom five were in critical condition. A further 24 were in serious condition, authorities said.

The collision took place near Adamuz, a town in the province of Cordoba, about 370 kilometers (about 230 miles) south of Madrid.

A sports center was turned into a makeshift hospital in Adamuz and the Spanish Red Cross set up a help center offering assistance to emergency services and people seeking information. Members of Spain’s civil guard and civil defense worked on site throughout the night.

Officials call accident ‘strange’

Transport Minister Puente early Monday said the cause of the crash was unknown.

He called it “a truly strange” incident because it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May. He also said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 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.

According to Puente, the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train. When asked by reporters how long an inquiry into the crash’s cause could take, he said it could be a month.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his condolences to the victims’ families. “Tonight is a night of deep pain for our country,” he wrote on X.

The prime minister will visit the accident site on Monday, according to his office.

Spain leads Europe in high-speed trains

Spain has the largest rail network in Europe for trains moving over 250 kph (155 mph), with more than 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) of track, according to the European Union.

The network is a popular, competitively priced and safe mode of transport. Renfe said more than 25 million passengers took one of its high-speed trains in 2024.

Train services Monday between Madrid and cities in Andalusia were canceled.

Spain’s worst train accident this century occurred in 2013, when 80 people died after a train derailed in the country’s northwest. An investigation concluded the train was traveling 179 kph (111 mph) on a stretch with an 80 kph (50 mph) speed limit when it left the tracks.

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Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain, and Naishadham from Madrid. AP journalist Barry Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal.