68 Dead in Toledo Train Crash as Protests Meet Police Outside Ministry

Spain began three days of national mourning on Thursday after a collision in the central province of Toledo killed at least 68 people. Emergency crews worked Wednesday among overturned carriages, twisted metal and detached wheels along a rural line bordered by olive groves. Cranes arrived late in the day to move damaged sections.

Transport Minister Oscar Puente said a computer malfunction disabled a safety system, bringing trains on the line to a halt at about 8:30 a.m. local time. Controllers then allowed a RENFE train to resume travel without speed restrictions, and it struck a stationary IRYO train at 8:53 a.m., Puente said. He called the order inexplicable and said it should never have been issued.

Outside the transport ministry in Madrid, riot police used tear gas late Wednesday after demonstrators pushed a police cordon. Protesters threw flares and other objects and shouted slogans aimed at Puente and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Puente faces calls to resign. Sanchez visited the crash site Wednesday and promised an investigation and safety improvements, saying two such accidents in one year is unacceptable.

The State Department said several Americans were among those injured. Jacksonville firefighter Josue Garcia-Otero was traveling with seven relatives. The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department released a statement in which he said he began helping critically injured passengers after reaching safety; his wife, a nurse, also assisted.

In January, 46 people died in southern Spain when a train derailed and struck another traveling the opposite direction. Both disasters involved trains operated by state-owned RENFE and private operator IRYO.

The crash lands four weeks before a national election, following demonstrations over housing costs and evictions. Sanchez called the snap election after his Socialist party lost legislative votes on measures meant to address the housing crisis. His government had advanced two decree laws to protect renters after the eviction of 87-year-old wheelchair user Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid home; she was allowed to return but died in hospital before doing so. Polls point to a difficult contest for Sanchez, in office since 2018, who also faces right-party criticism over migration policy and corruption allegations against his party and wife, which both deny.