Two high-speed trains have collided in Spain on the line connecting Madrid to Seville, rail operator Adif said. Regional authorities said at least 30 people had been killed and warned that the number of victims could rise further.

A spokesperson for the Spanish emergency services said the collision occurred "at 8:54 a.m." (07:54 GMT) between "two trains, one belonging to [private operator] Iryo and the other to [national company] Renfe," near Urda station in the Castile La Mancha region.

The crash caused two Iryo wagons to derail, a regional government spokesperson said, adding that the cause and number of injuries were still being determined.

"Traffic on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed rail line has been suspended following a rear-end collision between two trains," Adif said in a message posted on X on Wednesday.

"There are at least 10 dead, and it is possible that this number will increase," said Esther Padilla, spokesperson for the regional authorities, shortly after.

By 10:40 GMT the regional government said the death toll had reached 30.

Several fire brigades, three helicopters, and two mobile intensive care units (ICUs) are already on site.

Footage by regional Castilla La Mancha Television showed a derailed train with at least one carriage remaining on an elevated section of track while twisted metal, broken panels and wreckage could be seen strewn across an embankment beneath the line.

Manuel Galan, mayor of nearby town of Urda, told Cadena SER that emergency services had asked the town council to prepare emergency facilities, including a sports hall, to accommodate passengers and the injured.

Second lethal accident in nine months

The collision comes nine months after an accident between high-speed trains belonging to the same operators on the same line killed 46 people.

That crash in January, which occurred after a train derailed and smashed into an oncoming train near Adamuz, in Cordoba province, triggered a debate about the level of investment in railway maintenance in recent years.

With 4,000 kilometers of tracks, the Spanish high-speed rail network is the second largest in the world after China's and one of the country's proudest achievements.

The Adamuz tragedy on January 18 reignited debates in Spain over railway maintenance and passenger safety in the second most visited country in the world each year.

That accident, when an Iryo train derailed before striking an oncoming Renfe train, also sparked sharp criticism from right-wing and far-right opposition parties against socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government.

Election campaign 

This accident comes in the middle of an election campaign ahead of the November 29 legislative elections. Sánchez quickly expressed on X that he was "appalled by this serious accident."

Sánchez canceled his attendance at an obesity summit scheduled for Wednesday morning in Madrid, according to his office, while the Socialist Party (PSOE) he leads announced the suspension of all campaign activities for the day.

Emiliano García-Page, president of Castile-La Mancha, also announced he was clearing his agenda to travel to the crash site, saying he was following the situation "with concern."

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the right-wing People's Party which is PSOE's main rival, said on X that he was "very concerned" about this new train accident. The People's Party also canceled all campaign events, a spokesperson said.