At least one person was killed and dozens were injured after a commuter train crashed near Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday night.
The train collided head on with retaining wall that had fallen onto the tracks near the town of Gelida, about 35km (22 miles) outside of Barcelona.
Local media reported that the train driver was killed in the accident. In an update posted on social media, emergency services in Catalonia said 37 people were injured, five of them seriously.
Some 20 ambulances had been sent to the site of the crash, and the injured were taken to three hospitals in the area, they said.
Catalonia’s fire service said ‘no one was left inside’ the train, but it was sweeping the underside of the train and the area to rule out more victims.
The retaining wall likely fell because of heavy rainfall that swept across the northeastern Spanish region this week, Spain’s railway operator ADIF said.
Commuter train services have been cancelled along the line, it said.
Second train accident in Catalonia
Spain’s El Pais newspaper reported another train accident on Tuesday evening.
A train operating between Blanes and Macanet stations, also in Catalonia, derailed, although no injuries were reported, El Pais said.
The accident was caused by rocks that fell onto the track as a result of the storm that hit on Tuesday.
Service on that line has also been suspended.
Death toll rises in Sunday’s crash
Meanwhile, more bodies have been found in Sunday’s crash between two high-speed trains near the town of Adamuz in the region of Andalusia in southern Spain.
The confirmed death toll has now risen to 42, Andalusia regional authorities said on Tuesday, after three more bodies were recovered from the carriages during the course of the day.
Ten of the dead have been identified so far, Cordoba provincial authorities said. No information was provided about their identities or nationalities.
It’s feared the death toll will continue to rise.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told state broadcaster RTVE that 43 people were still listed as missing.
Police are using tracker dogs to look for further victims.
The front of the second train took the brunt of the impact, which knocked its first two carriages off the track and down a 4-metre (13-foot) slope.
Some bodies were found hundreds of metres from the crash site, Andalusia regional President Juanma Moreno said.
DW
