At least 21 people were killed when a high-speed train derailed and collided with another train late Sunday in southern Spain.The regional emergency agency in Andalucía confirmed the death toll, while regional government president Juanma Moreno said the number of victims was expected to rise. The cause of the derailment was not immediately clear, with transport minister Óscar Puente describing the crash as “extremely strange” as it occurred on a straight section of track.The crash occurred in the early evening, with hundreds of survivors rescued amid darkness at the scene.Salvador Jimenez, a journalist with Spanish broadcaster RTVE who was travelling on one of the trains, said that “there was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed,” as cited by AP.He said passengers broke windows using emergency hammers, with some escaping without serious injuries. Footage shared from the scene showed people climbing out through windows as they fled the wreckage, with carriages tilted at sharp angles.

How the collision happened

The crash occurred at around 7.45 pm (local time) in Adamuz, in the southern province of Córdoba, Puente said. He said the rear carriages of the first train derailed and crossed onto the opposite track, where they struck another passing train, causing the front two carriages of the second service to also leave the rails.The first train was travelling from Málaga to Madrid and was privately operated, while the second, run by Spain’s national rail company, was bound for the southern city of Huelva, west of Seville. The Andalucía regional government set up an advanced medical post at the site to treat the injured, while the national rail operator and railway company assisted relatives of victims at stations in Madrid, Seville, Córdoba, Málaga and Huelva.Paco Carmona, the head of Córdoba’s fire brigade, which is coordinating the rescue operation, told public television that emergency crews were prioritising efforts to reach victims still trapped in the two carriages most severely damaged in the crash, as cited by the New York Times.Spain’s state-owned rail infrastructure agency said rail traffic between Madrid and key southern Andalusian cities, including Córdoba, Seville, Málaga and Huelva, will be suspended on Monday.According to the International union of railways, Spain has the world’s second-longest high-speed rail network, behind China.