The crash occurred at around 7:45 p.m. near the town of Adamuz, close to the city of Córdoba, when the rear of a Malaga-to-Madrid train carrying about 300 passengers left the tracks and entered the opposite line, rail operator Adif said.

The derailed train collided with a Madrid-to-Huelva service transporting roughly 200 passengers, Adif added.

Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente said after midnight that rescuers had removed all survivors and updated the death toll to 21, while warning that additional victims could still be confirmed.

Andalusia regional President Juanma Moreno said 75 passengers were taken to hospital, most of them in Córdoba, including 15 people with serious injuries.

Meanwhile, the Spanish Red Cross set up an assistance center in Adamuz to support emergency services and relatives seeking information.

Members of Spain’s Civil Guard and Civil Defense were deployed at the scene, which was cordoned off as rescue operations continued through a cold, clear night.

Moreno said emergency workers would work throughout the night to recover bodies from the wreckage.

“We have a very difficult night ahead,” Andalusia’s regional health chief Antonio Sanz said.

Officials call accident ‘strange’

Puente said the cause of the collision was not yet known.

He described it as “a truly strange” incident, noting that it occurred on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May.

He added that the derailed train was less than four years old and belonged to private operator Iryo, while the second train was operated by Spain’s state-owned rail company Renfe.

Iryo said in a statement that it “deeply lamented what has happened” and was cooperating with authorities to manage the situation.

According to Puente, the rear section of the first train derailed and struck the front of the Renfe train, forcing its first two carriages off the tracks and down a four-metre slope.

He said the most severe damage was to the front of the Renfe train.

Asked how long the investigation could take, Puente said it could last up to a month.

Impact ‘felt like an earthquake’

Salvador Jiménez, a journalist with Spanish broadcaster RTVE who was on one of the trains, said passengers felt a violent jolt.

“There was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed,” he told the network by phone.

He said passengers used emergency hammers to break windows and some were able to walk away without serious injuries.

Spain leads Europe in high-speed rail

Spain has Europe’s largest high-speed rail network for trains operating above 250 kph, with more than 3,100 kilometres of track, according to the European Union.

The network is widely used and competitively priced, and Renfe said more than 25 million passengers travelled on its high-speed services in 2024.

Adif said train services between Madrid and cities in Andalusia would be suspended on Monday.

Spain’s deadliest train disaster this century occurred in 2013, when 80 people were killed after a derailment in the northwest of the country.

An investigation later found that the train had been travelling at 179 kph on a section of track with an 80 kph speed limit when it left the rails.