SPAIN: Dozens of rescue workers toiled throughout yesterday to recover the bodies of some 26 people believed to have been killed in a train crash near Albacete in central Spain, writes Jane Walker in Madrid
Five bodies, all railway workers, were recovered soon after the crash, but the remains of an estimated 21 passengers were trapped in the charred wreckage. Nine people were hospitalised for their injuries and 20 others were released after treatment and 30 passengers escaped unhurt.
The accident occurred late on Tuesday night when the Talgo express train travelling at over 130 k.p.h. from Madrid to Murcia and Cartagena hit a 28-wagon freight train head-on. The force of the collision was so great that the engine and two trucks of the goods train flew into the air, landing on the front portion of the passenger train.
It is believed that sparks from the crashing machinery ignited overhead electricity cables, causing a huge fire and completely destroying the train's two first class and bar coaches where it is estimated that the heat was over 1,000 degrees centigrade. The chief of the fire brigade working at the scene said most of the passengers in those coaches would have died instantly in the crash before the fire broke out.
There were fears of an escape of toxic gases as several trucks on the goods train had been carrying sulphuric acid and other dangerous chemicals earlier in the day. Residents of the nearby village of Chinchilla were warned to remain inside their houses with the windows closed until firemen had cooled down the tanks and declared the area safe.
Mr Francisco Alvarez Castro, the minister for transport, said that it was believed that human error was the cause of the crash as the signalling officer at Chinchilla station admitted that he switched the signal to green for the Talgo to continue its journey before the goods train had passed through on a stretch of single track where the signalling is manual rather than automatic.
This is one of the worst railway disasters in Spain, a country which has always been proud of its safety record. However, this year has been a black one for Spanish transport history - 10 other mostly minor rail accidents, with only two fatalities, have been recorded since the beginning of this year. Two women were killed in January on the same stretch of track as yesterday's accident, although on that occasion Renfe, the state railway company, said that sabotage caused the derailment of a Talgo train.
There have been complaints that the government was so anxious to introduce a costly new AVE high-speed rail service to link Madrid with Zaragoza (which is already more than six months behind schedule) that important modernisation work on other lines have been ignored. Mr Miguel Corsini, the chairman of Renfe, warned recently that routine maintenance is insufficient on many stretches of track.