Bloodied, dazed and angry - how passengers' rail journey turned to disaster in Spain

It was approaching 08:30 (07:30 GMT) on a normal Wednesday. Two high-speed trains were travelling south from the Spanish capital, Madrid, to Seville.

1. Publicado 28 de outubro de 2026, 17:16 GMT.
2. Bloodied, dazed and angry - how passengers' rail journey turned to disaster in SpainPublished2 hours ago.
3. High-speed train crash kills at least 68 people in Spain.

Legenda da figura, sobrevivente descreve estar a bordo quando os trens colidiram.

Um trem operado pela estatal Renfe transportava 397 passageiros a bordo. À frente dele, na mesma linha, estava um trem da operadora privada Iryo com 147 passageiros.

Um problema relatado no sistema de sinalização automática – falha de computador – obrigou todos os trens a parar na faixa afetada.

Then the impossible happened, Spain's transport minister said, as the Renfe train was ordered to proceed in "error.

It crashed into the back of the other train between municipalities Mora and Orgaz, about 140km (87 miles) south of Madrid.

Legenda da figura, Assista: 'People flew off their seats,' diz passageiro.

Broken arms, broken noses, rail through the roof.

Alguns dos passageiros estavam dormindo, outros já haviam iniciado seu dia de trabalho em laptops – e ainda outros rolavam pelas suas apps em seus celulares.

The journey was interrupted with an announcement that there was congestion on the tracks. This lasted a few minutes - for some, a bit longer for others.

Tangui Binier, 22, was in the Iryo train, the front carriage, number eight. His father was in number seven.

O trem deles era um dos seis que foram ordenados a parar às 08:30. Poucos minutos depois, “the train started speeding”, Binier disse à BBC, “then it came to a sudden halt.”.

Baffled, he looked out of the window and saw "wires on the left side come down, and then there being just a lot of smoke behind us.

Spanish journalist Roberto Gómez was dozing on the high-speed Renfe train which had stopped more than 25km (16 miles) away from Binier's.

Foi uma parada breve. Poucos minutos depois, o trem começou a se mover novamente, ele explicou, e então o acidente aconteceu.

He did not know that at 08:36 his train had been ordered to proceed with the journey and some 17 minutes later the "truly unbelievable" happened, Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said.

Gómez sofreu apenas ferimentos leves, mas descreveu outro passageiro caindo sobre ele e sofrendo um corte profundo na cabeça.

We were able to help people who had suffered severe blows to their chest and ribs," he said.

Rafael Barcelo was in one of the worst-affected carriages. A bruise on his forehead makes him one of the lucky survivors. He was having a coffee at the time of the crash and "felt a huge impact.

We were all thrown into the air," he told Reuters news agency at the site of the crash.

Estou razoavelmente bem, meu amigo está bem pior.

I was travelling in coach seven, which is the one with more victims and the one most destroyed. I at least counted eight victims in that coach," he said, visibly shocked.

Image source, ReutersImage caption, Rafael Barcelo: "I counted eight victims in that coach.

Even in the carriages farthest away from the impact on the Renfe train "everything was completely destroyed - the seats were detached, and most of the people who were travelling facing the same direction as the train were thrown into the air", according to Salvador Arriza.

Foi algo brutal, ele disse, descrevendo como algumas pessoas “estavam presas entre os assentos.”.

Once out, he saw how bad the situation was.

O que chamou minha atenção foi que, em um dos vagões, havia um trecho de trilho que atravessava o teto do vagão, e eu acho que isso pode ter ajudado a parar ou reduzir a inércia do trem.

Fonte da imagem, legenda da imagem EPA, Salvador Arriza afirma que um longo trecho de trilho que perfurou o teto do vagão pode ter desacelerado o trem.

Sebastián Herrero was travelling in the train which was hit from the rear and the "terrible, terrible impact" threw him on to the seats in front.

After we fell, there were many people with broken noses, broken arms... We started seeing smoke everywhere.

Fonte da imagem, Legenda da imagem EPA, O acidente próximo a Urda é o pior desastre ferroviário da Espanha desde 2013.

Assim que o impacto inicial acabou, os passageiros no carro de Binier debateram se era seguro sair devido aos fios elétricos espalhados fora do trem.

Some were worried about the risk of another train colliding and decided to exit.

We did not know what had happened until we took a step outside, and there there was evidence of what had happened.

We saw the other train behind ours and we saw our train completely flipped over and the back side full of debris," he told the BBC.

Quando saí do trem, fiquei em completo choque, completa admiração. Havia pessoas em perigo, era muito difícil enxergar, havia corpos mortos, havia membros faltantes.

I don't know if that is something I will ever recover from.

Mas a adrenalina entrou em ação, disse ele, e os que, como ele, não sofreram nenhuma lesão foram ajudar.

Among them was his dad, who he explained was "able to carry a girl to safety, with a broken hip.

It was not long before local people arrived, followed by the police and ambulance services of the Guardia Civil.

I'm really one of the most fortunate people and the luckiest person. I feel like just I'm so fortunate and I see other people who are not so fortunate, and I see them very close up.

Sometimes you just ask yourself 'Why me?'," he said.

Spain was already reeling from the Adamuz high-speed rail disaster outside Córdoba in January, in which 46 people died.

O incidente ocorreu na mesma linha de trem de alta velocidade, porém muito mais ao sul. Assim, o acidente de quarta-feira levantou inúmeras questões para as autoridades.

Os passageiros afetados ficaram visivelmente irritados.

It isn't possible that our train was stopped for five or 10 minutes and that the other train wasn't told to stop," one of them said.

Como isso pode acontecer com a tecnologia que temos?," eles acrescentaram. "Não é normal. Não fomos informados de nada. A pessoa que deveria ter sido informada era o motorista do outro trem.

We wouldn't have cared as long as the other train had been warned. I don't understand this.

Em números

• It crashed into the back of the other train between municipalities Mora and Orgaz, about 140km (87 miles) south of Madrid
• Nalist Roberto Gómez was dozing on the high-speed Renfe train which had stopped more than 25km (16 miles) away from Binier's