Rabat – A commuter train collision involving Spain’s rail carrier Renfe occurred at approximately 07:50 this morning at the Montcada i Reixac – Manresa station, about 12 kilometers from the city center, a station in Spain’s Northeastern Catalonia region.
Local news outlets have reported that two trains collided whilst traveling in the same direction, one of which was parked in the station.
At the time of writing 155 people are injured and no fatalities have been recorded yet. Local authorities are now investigating the crash, emergency services official Joan Carles Gomez informed reporters.
Fourteen passengers have been hospitalized and are awaiting further medical treatment. However, Gomez confirmed the injuries mainly consist of bruises and head injuries with nothing “serious” as of yet.
Luckily the train that crashed into the parked train was not moving at speed therefore most injuries incurred were from people falling over from the impact of the collision.
A fire service official detailed that the moving train had collided with the “back part” of the stationary train, the BBC explained. Both trains have since been successfully evacuated.
The civil protection alert plan for railways accidents has been activated in light of the incident. Other train lines have been briefly impacted following the collision.
Spanish news outlet Ser Catalunya interviewed a passenger who described the collision as a “tremendous blow.”
Spain’s Transport Minister Raquel Sanchez announced that she is monitoring the situation and wished the passengers a “speedy recovery.”
This incident is not the first of its kind in Spain. Other railway accidents have occurred in the country in recent years, and regional officials are blaming the lack of funding from the government for the recurrence of such tragic events.
There was another train crash earlier this year in May which killed one person and left 80 injured. That incident also happened near Barcelona in Sant Boi.
Following today’s events, the speaker of the regional assembly Laura Borras stated it was “imperative” that an incident like this does not happen again. Taking to Twitter, Borras fumed: “We Catalans deserve safe trains!”
