Canada

Spanish train crash kills 68, injures dozens including Canadians

The collision between two high-speed trains in central Spain is the country's second major rail disaster this year.

By Elise Tremblay, Editor-in-Chief
October 28, 2026

Explainer

A high-speed train collision in central Spain on Wednesday killed at least 68 people and injured dozens more, including several Canadians. The crash involved a state-owned train slamming into the rear of a stopped private train on a line south of Madrid. It is the second deadly high-speed rail accident in Spain this year, prompting three days of national mourning and raising urgent questions about safety protocols. Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente called the decision to restart traffic after a system failure "inexplicable."

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Wednesday that five Canadians were affected by the crash. A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada said earlier that at least six Canadians were injured and one other was unaccounted for. Prime Minister Mark Carney said the government was prepared to provide any required assistance. "Our thoughts are with their families, the victims and their loved ones in the days and weeks ahead," Carney told reporters in Ottawa. The regional government of Castilla La Mancha confirmed the death toll and said another 58 people were receiving medical treatment at hospitals, with 15 in critical condition. Rescue workers continued searching the wreckage for survivors and bodies. The crash occurred in a flat stretch surrounded by olive fields between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes in the province of Toledo, about 130 kilometres south of Madrid.

What caused the collision?

Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the crash was caused by an "inexplicable" order from a central command centre after a security system failed. He said that at 8:30 a.m. local time, the security system on a 63-kilometre stretch of track stopped working due to a computer malfunction, causing all trains on that stretch to stop. The central command then told the RENFE train to start running again without any speed restrictions, and it collided with the stopped IRYO train at 8:53 a.m. Puente said the train should never have been told to start moving since there was still a "stop signal" active on that line, and if it had, it should have been told to go at reduced speed. Authorities were still studying information to see how fast the train was going, but it could have been travelling at 200 km/h for that stretch of track. "I am not attributing responsibility to anyone, I am just stating the facts," Puente said. He added that the train engineers were not to blame.

What was the scene like after the crash?

The collision derailed two cars and left one carriage shredded into bits of metal, scattering debris down a gravel slope. Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said emergency workers focused on rescuing survivors and bodies from the most damaged train cars. "It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy," García said. A military emergency brigade was deployed to help emergency services, firefighters and police.

David Gómez, a construction worker who was nearby, told the newspaper El País that he and others ran to help after hearing the crash. "People were trying to get out through the windows.... We cut through some fences to access the area and treated people with the first-aid kits we had brought," until emergency services arrived, he said. "As I was trying to pull a young woman out, there was a piece of a leg." The mayor of the nearby town of Urda, Manuel Galán, said civil protection authorities asked his officials to prepare a sports pavilion to receive injured passengers.

How many people were on the trains?

Authorities said 397 passengers were on the state-owned RENFE train and 147 passengers were on the privately operated IRYO train. Passenger Ignacio Relaño, who was traveling on the RENFE train, told state broadcaster TVE that the train had stopped momentarily on the line before it started again and then crashed. "We all felt the train abruptly slowing down and then the impact," he said. "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." Another passenger recounted to Cadena Ser radio how she felt the train slam on the brakes and was thrown forward in her seat, breaking the small table in front of her. She said she saw body parts and trapped people covered in blood. Rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia following the crash.

How does this crash compare to other recent accidents?

The collision came just nine months after another deadly crash involving high-speed trains operated by the same two companies in southern Spain in January. That accident killed 45 people when an IRYO train jumped the track and hit an oncoming RENFE train. Before this year, there had been no fatal crash on Spain's dedicated high-speed lines since the network opened in 1992. A government source told the El País newspaper that Wednesday's accident "could be worse than Adamuz," referring to the site of the January crash.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who faces a national election on Nov. 29, announced three days of national mourning. "Today all of Spain is grieving," Sánchez said from the crash site. "It is unacceptable for a country like Spain to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year." Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia said they were "deeply saddened and concerned" by the accident. The Spanish soccer federation postponed all 24 Copa del Rey games scheduled for Wednesday as a mark of respect. IRYO, an Italian-owned company that started operating in Spain in 2022, said in a statement that it has "activated its security protocols and is closely working with authorities." Spain has invested heavily in high-speed rail, laying some 3,900 kilometres of track, making it a world leader in the sector after China.

With files from CBC News, Global News and TMZ