At least 39 dead, dozens injured after high-speed trains collide in Spain

The cause of the accident was not yet confirmed, but Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente called it “truly strange” because it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May.

He also said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old. That train belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train, which took the brunt of the impact, was part of Spain’s public train company Renfe.

Puente said the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train, knocking its first two carriages off the track and down a 13-foot slope. He said the worst damage was to the front section of the Renfe train.

Iryo said in a post on X that it “deeply regretted” what happened and had activated all emergency protocols. Renfe chief Álvaro Fernández Heredia called the incident “a tragedy that affects us all.”

Video verified by NBC News showed the aftermath of the accident, with one of the badly mangled trains leaning on its side as a passenger tries to climb out of the window.

Salvador Jiménez, a journalist for Spanish broadcaster RTVE, was on board one of the derailed trains and told the network by phone that “there was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed.”

He said passengers used emergency hammers to break the windows, and that some had walked away without serious injuries.