Spain to hold three days of mourning after train crash that killed at least 40

Officials say death toll likely to rise as rescuers continue to comb through wreckage in remote area of Andalucía

Spain will begin three days of mourning on Tuesday as rescuers continue to comb through the wreckage of twisted train cars and scattered debris to locate victims after a train collision that killed at least 40 people and injured dozens.

On Monday, more than 18 hours after a high-speed train carrying about 300 Madrid-bound passengers derailed and collided with an oncoming train, people across the country were still scrambling to make contact with missing loved ones caught up in Spain’s worst rail disaster in more than a decade.

Juan Barroso said five members of his extended family had been among the nearly 200 people heading from Madrid to the southern city of Huelva by train. In the aftermath of the collision near Adamuz in Córdoba province, just one of them, a six-year-old child, had been accounted for.

“Now we’re searching for the four who are missing,” Barroso told reporters. “We’ve been all over. All of the hospitals in Jaén, Úbeda and in Córdoba.”