Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says people of 27 nationalities may be among the 69 people confirmed dead in Spain train crash that occurred on Wednesday,October 28, 2026.
Sánchez, who briefed the media alongside Castilla–La Mancha president Emiliano García-Page, said the authorities are working in close coordination with relevant embassies and consulates to identify the victims and those injured.
Available reports indicated that out of 110 people hospitalised after the incident, 71 have been discharged, while 39 others remain in hospitals.
According to him, aside from those already confirmed, the toll may rise further with at least 70 people reported missing. Some may be among those yet to be identified, with emergency services having so far confirmed the identities of only 13 people.
This is as a further 31 body bags containing partial remains also await identification, making the process “very complex”, emergency and health authorities have confirmed, indicating that work is ongoing to identify victims.
With fears that death toll could rise, the Prime Minister, who also acknowledged that the confidence in the country’s high-speed train, once a source of national pride, is “broken”, however pledged to work on restoring it in the future.
“The government’s job is not just to make the diagnosis, but to offer solutions so that a tragedy of this magnitude never happens again. And that’s what we’re doing,” he said.
Spain Begins Mourning Period As Search Continues For Train Crash Victims
On Thursday, Spain began three days of mourning for at least 69 people who died in a high-speed rail collision, as hospitals continued to treat dozens of injured passengers and train drivers went on strike to urge more investment in railway safety.
Authorities said emergency services, drones and dog unit continue to comb carriages as Civil Guard sets up clinics for relatives to provide DNA samples for family members involved in the crash
Explaining the circumstances surrounding the crash, investigators said the trains, one from Spain’s state-owned Renfe and the other from the private rail company Iryo, were traveling from Madrid towards the southern region of Andalucía on Wednesday when they collided just before 9am.
After the Iryo train came to a halt, the other slammed into its rear, knocking several carriages off the track near Urda in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha.
Meanwhile, Spain’s Foreign Ministry said 42 foreign citizens from seven countries were involved in the crash, adding that one had been killed and at least seven injured.
The crash came 10 months after 46 people were killed and dozens more injured when two trains – one from Renfe and one from Iryo – collided on the same line near the town of Adamuz in Andalucía.
The disaster has raised fresh questions about safety on Spain’s large, modern high-speed rail network. The transport minister, Óscar Puente, said rear-end collisions such as Wednesday’s were “highly unlikely”, and suggested the accident could have been caused by human error under “inexplicable” circumstances.
