URDA, Spain — At least 68 people died on Wednesday when a Spanish high-speed express train slammed into a stationary train, with rescuers combing through mangled carriages for more bodies in Spain's second fatal rail crash this year and the deadliest rail disaster in Europe since 2013.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said "all of Spain" was in mourning after the collision, which Transport Minister Oscar Puente said occurred after a Renfe service was authorized to proceed despite an active red signal triggered by a stationary train ahead.

Speaking to reporters in Madrid, Puente said the red signal had been issued because of a computer communications failure that automatically stopped traffic, but that an erroneous decision was then taken to restart the Renfe train.

In a televised address from near the site south of Madrid, Sanchez said the "terrible tragedy" would be investigated and vowed to address any failures that came to light, adding that the causes of the two crashes appeared to be unrelated.

"If we need to further strengthen safety in order to rebuild confidence in our high-speed rail system, we will do so, because what is unacceptable for a country like Spain is to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year," Mr. Sanchez said.

Spain's opposition People's Party said it had canceled all campaign events for the day, ahead of elections next month.

Trapped Among Seats

At the scene in rural Castilla-La Mancha, ambulances, funeral home vans and helicopters assembled beside one of the trains on an elevated stretch of track, while twisted metal and wreckage lay scattered down an embankment where at least three carriages had plunged.

The head of the regional government, Emiliano García-Page, said the death toll had risen to 68, while rescuers searching for other victims as darkness fell did not know whether further fatalities would be discovered once the carriages were moved.

Passengers — some splattered with blood or bandaged — were evacuated along a nearby road. Spain's health minister, Monica Garcia, said the crash had injured 80 people, 15 of them very seriously.

Survivor Salvador Arriza described the chaos inside his carriage.

"I was very close to the door, but (other passengers) were breaking the windows to be able to get out. Some people practically couldn't move because they were trapped amongst the seats," said the 62-year-old.

Investigation Under Way

The disaster — the deadliest train accident in Europe since a 2013 derailment in Spain's Santiago de Compostela that killed 80 people — follows another fatal accident in January involving high-speed trains operated by the same companies on the same line, in which 46 people died. In that collision, a train derailed and smashed into an oncoming train, prompting a debate over investment in railway maintenance. Wednesday's crash has kept that scrutiny alive, focusing attention on safety and upkeep across a network that, after more than three decades of expansion, is among the most extensive high-speed systems in Europe.

Renfe said on Wednesday that after being authorized to continue its journey, its train had crashed into the Iryo train, a privately operated high-speed service, which had remained stationary "for reasons we don't know."

"The Renfe train continued on its way as instructed, and a collision occurred. The exact sequence of events, the traffic conditions and the circumstances of the impact will have to be established by the investigation," Renfe said in a statement.

Iryo, which said it had activated emergency protocols, and state-owned infrastructure operator Adif did not respond to requests for comment.

Attention now turns to the investigation, including how the Renfe service came to be authorized to proceed past a red signal triggered by the communications failure, and to what safety measures the government adopts in response.

Passengers Sent Flying

A Castilla-La Mancha government spokesperson said 147 people were on board the Iryo train and 397 on the Renfe service when the collision occurred at about 9 a.m. (0800 GMT), derailing two Iryo carriages.

Passenger Rafael Barcelo said he felt lucky because he had stepped away from his seat for a coffee, adding that there had been at least eight victims from his carriage.

"We were having breakfast, drinking a coffee when we felt a very strong impact and we were sent flying," he said.

At a school in Urda where relatives had been directed, a woman who gave her name as Ana fought back tears as she said there was still no news of her husband, Pepe. His name was not among those identified, although police had found their dog, Trece.

Renfe said it had opened a special line for families of victims and suspended ticket sales on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed corridor until December 13.

Maintenance Spending

A preliminary Civil Guard report in February pointed to defects in the track, rail or a weld between two sections of track as the leading theory behind January's accident, though investigators kept seven other possibilities open.

Spain's railway safety authority has reported that accidents, including derailments and collisions, increased from 45 in 2016 to 57 in 2024 and 69 last year.

A Reuters analysis of data from the Spanish competition authority showed that some 25 million passengers used a high-speed train in Spain in the first half of 2026, a drop of around 14% compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, European Commission data shows that Spain's maintenance investment in its roughly 4,000 km (2,485 miles) of high-speed lines has lagged other large European countries. Although Spain spent an average of about €1.5 billion a year on its high-speed network between 2018 and 2022 — more than any other European country — most of that money went toward new construction, with only about 16% earmarked for maintenance, renewals and upgrades. With ridership dipping and accident counts climbing, how Spain balances new construction against the upkeep of its existing network has become a central question for operators and regulators alike.

— Reuters