Spain observes national mourning after horrific train crash near Toledo

Councils throughout the Canaries and Spain observed a minute of silence yesterday evening in memory of the victims of the train crash that occurred near Toledo on Wednesday morning.

At least 68 people have died in the accident, which occurred when an AVE (High Speed Train) collided into the rear of a private train operated by Irya that had come to halt on the tracks.

The Irya train had been halted along with several other trains after a failure of the computer-operated LZB signalling system, leaving control in the hands of the ADIF rail command centre in Madrid. It is thought that ADIF operative ordered the AVE train to continue, although the Iryo train remained halted. 

Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has declared three days of national mourning following the tragedy, which is the second serious accident involving high-speed trains in Spain this year. In January, 46 people died when an Iryo train derailed at Adamuz, near Córdoba.  

Among those confirmed dead in the Toledo crash is Fatima Banez, who served as Spain’s employment minister from 2011 to 2018.