Part of the derailed train in Spain.Image: keystone
After the serious train accident in Spain, the identification of the numerous fatalities is in full swing.
01/20/2026, 06:0901/20/2026, 06:09
“We expect results soon,” said the head of the responsible department of the Guardia Civil police unit, Juan Serrano, in an interview with the radio station RNE. Germans are also said to be among the victims.
At least 40 people died on Sunday evening when two high-speed trains traveling in the opposite direction derailed near Adamuz in the Andalusian province of Córdoba. However, the authorities fear that the number of victims could rise.
When asked, the Foreign Office in Berlin said: “Unfortunately, we have to assume that German nationals are also among those affected. There is currently no reliable information about the number.” We are in close contact with the authorities in order to clarify the matter.
All of the injured are now out of danger
Information that relatives of missing people can provide could be useful in identification, Serrano said. This included photos, identification documents, information about tattoos and dental x-rays. According to media reports, five dead people were identified in the evening. However, no further information was initially known.
There were more than 170 injured in the accident. Most recently, 39 were still being treated in hospitals, as the Andalusian emergency service announced in its latest balance sheet. Twelve of them were in the intensive care unit on Monday evening. It was emphasized that everyone is now out of danger.
A tragic coincidence
The tragedy occurred on Sunday around 7:40 p.m. The last two carriages of an Iryo high-speed train operated by the Italian company Trenitalia derailed at a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour for an unknown reason and ended up on the neighboring track, as the Spanish railway company Renfe announced.
Just at that time, a Renfe high-speed train passed there. He crashed head-on into the derailed wagons and was thrown off the tracks. Parts of the train, whose driver died, fell down a four-meter-high embankment. In total, more than 500 passengers were on board both trains.
Andalusia’s head of government, Juanma Moreno, had emphasized several times that it could not be ruled out that there were more bodies in the “heaps of metal rubble”. The recovery of the crashed and completely destroyed wagons is proving to be very difficult. On Monday evening, however, he was a little more optimistic and pointed to the correspondence between the 40 confirmed fatalities and the 40 missing person reports received. This gives hope and hope that there will be no more deaths.
According to media reports, the fatalities include five members of a family from Punta Umbría in the south of the country: the father, the mother, the son, a daughter and a nephew. Only the couple’s six-year-old daughter survived, it was said.
The cause must be determined
Meanwhile, authorities and experts puzzled over the possible causes of the disaster, which would probably take weeks and months to clarify. Renfe ruled out human error.
During the investigation, evidence of a “break or change in the rail” was found. However, Transport Minister Óscar Puente rejected all speculation and emphasized that it still had to be found out whether the damage was actually the cause or result of the derailment. “All hypotheses are open,” he emphasized on television on Monday evening.
Traffic on the important route between Madrid and Andalusia will most likely remain suspended until February 2nd, said Minister Puente. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared three days of national mourning from Tuesday to Thursday.
(sda/dpa)