6 Canadians hurt in Spain train crash that killed 68

Six Canadians were injured in a high-speed train crash in central Spain that killed 68 people, Global Affairs Canada said Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.

A spokesperson said one other Canadian is unaccounted for. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in a statement on X that consular officials were in close contact with Spanish authorities so that all affected Canadians receive the assistance they need.

Prime Minister Mark Carney called the crash a tragedy. “Our thoughts are with their families, the victims and their loved ones in the days and weeks ahead,” he said, adding that Canada will provide assistance if it can.

The death toll rose to 68 on Wednesday morning after it was first reported that 30 people had died, the AP said. Emiliano García-Page, the regional president of Castilla-La Mancha, said at least 80 people were injured as rescue workers searched the wreckage for survivors and bodies.

Spain’s rail operator ADIF said the crash happened Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo. A train operated by state-owned Renfe ran into the tail of a stopped train operated by the private company Iryo, knocking two of its cars off the track, according to the report. Both were heading from Madrid to Seville. Rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.

Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the crash followed an “inexplicable” order from the central command centre after a security system failed. He said the system stopped working on a 63-kilometre stretch at 8:30 a.m. because of a computer malfunction, which halted all trains there. The command centre then told the Renfe train to start moving again without speed restrictions, and it hit the stopped Iryo train at 8:53 a.m., Puente said.

Puente said the engineers were not to blame and that a stop signal was still active on the line. “I am not attributing responsibility to anyone, I am just stating the facts,” he said. He said investigators were still working out the train’s speed, which could have been 200 km/h on that stretch.

The AP described it as the second major train accident in Spain this year. Our earlier report on the collision, which put the toll at 30, is here: At least 30 dead as two high-speed trains collide in Spain.

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