Major question remains over 'error' that caused 'apocalyptic' train crash with at least 68 dead

A deadly rail collision took place in Spain yesterday (28 October) when one high-speed train slammed into another had had stopped on the tracks.

But the country’s transport minister, Oscar Puente, has described an order that caused the accident as ‘inexplicable’.

Surviving passengers described the scenes as ‘apocalyptic’ with at least 68 people dead.

The regional government for Castilla La Mancha confirmed this death toll as it said another 58 needed medical treatment in hospital. Rescue workers are continuing to search in the wreckage (included shredded carriages) for more survivors and bodies.

The two high-speed trains were carrying hundreds of passengers, travelling from Madrid to Seville, when they collided in the province of Toledo. Puente said that at 8:30am on Wednesday, the security system on a stretch of 39 miles stopped working due to a computer malfunction.

An order was given which caused the train to collide with a stationary one. (Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images)

This then caused all trains on that stretch to stop.

However, the transport minister explained that the central command told a train, run by the state-owned RENFE company, to start running again without any speed restrictions.

And then, at 8:53am, it ended up colliding with a train owned by private company IRYO that had stopped. Two of its cars were knocked off the track in a rural area between two villages.

Puente has described this order from central command as ‘inexplicable’ and added that the train engineers weren’t to blame. Questions loom over why this ‘decision to resume traffic’ was made.

He doubled-down that the RENFE train should never have been told to start moving again while the ‘stop signal’ was still active on the line. And if it had been, it should have at least been told to go at reduced speed.

“I am not attributing responsibility to anyone, I am just stating the facts,” Puente said.

While it is not yet definite, he added that the train may have been going at 124mph for that stretch of the track.

Services are searching for more survivors and bodies. (Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Some carriages were totally destroyed, with one train car torn into bits of metal and other material.

Spanish health minister Monica García said: “It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy.”

She explained that emergency workers were focusing on rescuing survivors and bodies from the two most damaged cars.

A passenger on the RENFE train, Ignacio Relano, told state broadcast TVE: ““We all felt the train abruptly slowing down and then the impact.

“The car leaned to one side like it was about to tip over. I hit my nose, everything went flying, luggage, cell phones. Everything shook.”