Death toll from Spain's Toledo train crash rises to 74 as a former minister is named among the dead
Wrecked carriages thrown down an embankment near Urda, Toledo, after controllers directed a Renfe train to resume at full speed into a stationary Iryo service carrying 147 passengers.Smoke rises from derailed carriages between Los Yébenes and Urda after the crash, which emergency crews feared could surpass the Adamuz disaster, where 46 people died in January.Mangled wreckage on its side after two high-speed trains collided in Toledo province, Spain, killing at least 39 people and leaving survivors scrambling clear while passengers remained trapped.The derailed train near Urda, Toledo, where a computer failure prompted controllers to direct a Renfe service to resume at full speed — a decision Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said left operators with "more…
Spain's transport minister Óscar Puente has confirmed the death toll from Wednesday's Toledo rail disaster has risen to 74, with fears more bodies remain trapped in the wreckage. A Renfe high-speed train smashed into the stationary Iryo service near Urda after a control centre gave an "inexplicable" order to resume travel while the safety system was down. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia cancelled all official engagements to visit survivors at a Toledo hospital, where 15 patients remain in intensive care.
Former employment minister Fátima Báñez, who served under PM Mariano Rajoy from 2011 to 2018, was confirmed dead — she is believed to have been travelling in one of the carriages that sustained the heaviest damage.
Audio recordings show the Renfe driver was given clearance to proceed at 08:36, even though the stalled Iryo train sat just 25km ahead on the same track.
