UPDATE 2 - At least 64 dead, 80 injured in high-speed train crash in central Spain

UPDATES WITH DETAILS ON CAUSE OF CRASH, REMARKS BY TRANSPORT MINISTER; ADDS SOURCE

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - At least 64 people were killed and around 80 injured when two high-speed trains collided in central Spain on Wednesday, Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente confirmed.

Emiliano Garcia-Page, president of Castile-La Mancha, warned that the death toll could rise further, Spanish daily El Pais reported.

Puente said an IT failure at around 8.30 am (0730GMT) affected a roughly 60-kilometer (37-mile) stretch of railway, disrupting the automatic safety system and leaving six trains stopped in the affected area.

Rail traffic was subsequently managed by infrastructure operator Adif's control center, which authorized a train behind a stationary Iryo train to resume its journey "as normal" at around 8.36 am, he said.

"Was this correct? There was a stop signal. It had to stop, and according to protocols, it should not have continued operating normally because there was a train stopped ahead," Puente said.

The collision occurred at around 8.53 am, when the train behind the Iryo train may have been traveling at speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour (124 mph), according to the minister.

"A rear-end collision is highly improbable, so we have spent the entire morning trying to figure out what happened," Puente said, adding that the investigation continues.

Garcia-Page said emergency workers had located 34 bodies aboard the Iryo train, while another six people were confirmed dead inside one of its carriages but had yet to be recovered.

Another 24 fatalities were recorded aboard the AVE train, he said.

"We are talking about an enormous number. I am deeply sorry for the families and for everyone affected," Garcia-Page said, describing the collision as an "unmitigated tragedy."

He also confirmed that around 80 people were injured, including approximately 55 receiving treatment at hospitals across the region.

"There were dead people underneath the trains. So many people couldn't get out, screams ... it was horrifying," Eduarda, a passenger on the Iryo train, told Spanish radio station Cadena SER.

Rail infrastructure operator Adif said both trains were serving the Madrid-Seville route. Services linking Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia were suspended.

Emergency crews, including firefighters and medical helicopters, were deployed to the scene. The Castilla-La Mancha regional government activated its emergency response plan.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez canceled his scheduled engagements to monitor the emergency and was reportedly traveling to the accident site.

All political parties except the far-right Vox party canceled their campaign events scheduled for Wednesday.

Vox leader Santiago Abascal blamed Sanchez for the accident, accusing his government of having "destroyed absolutely everything."

European leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, offered their condolences.

The collision came nine months after the Adamuz rail disaster in southern Spain, which killed 46 people and injured more than 120.

It was Spain's deadliest train crash since the 2013 derailment near Santiago de Compostela, which killed 80 people.

Alyssa Mcmurtry