At least 68 passengers have died, and more than 100 suffered injuries after two high-speed trains collided in Spain.
An Iryo service travelling from Madrid to Seville reportedly came to a stop near the city of Toledo due to a signal failure before.
Ten minutes later, a Renfe train on the same route struck the stationary locomotive after the central command centre failed to warn of the disruption and told the train to continue its journey.
A number of carriages from both trains derailed following the crash, with most of the victims believed to have been on board two train cars that have plunged down the embankment at the scene.
Around 544 people are believed to have been travelling on the two high-speed trains, which can reach a maximum speed of 300km per hour – or around 185mph.
Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said that the accident was caused by what he called the 'inexplicable' order from a central command centre for Spain's trains after a security system had failed. He said the train engineers were not to blame.
Puente said that at 8.30am the security system on a stretch of 63 kilometers (39 miles) stopped working due to a computer malfunction, causing all trains on that stretch to stop.
But the central command told the Renfe train to start running again without any speed restrictions, and it ended up colliding with the stopped Iryo train at 8.53am.
Puente said that the train should never have been told to start moving again since there was still a 'stop signal' active that line. And if it had, at least it should have been told to go at reduced speed.
Puente said they were still studying information to see how fast the train was going, but it could have been at 200 kph (124 mph) for that stretch of the track.
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Emergency services work at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday evening
Emergency services are seen at the site of a train collision between a high speed Renfe AVE train and Iryo train around 150kms south of Madrid between Urda and Los Yebenes in the province of Toledo
A general view showing the derailed carriages of the two high-speed trains as emergency services arrive at the scene
Rail operator Adif said the incident occurred between the towns of Mora and Orgaz
An aerial view of the crash site shows dozens of emergency vehicles
The disaster came just one day before a planned 24-hour work stoppage at Renfe by Spain's largest train drivers union.
Earlier this month, the union said in a statement: 'Our goal is to change the system and make it safer.
'We demand real and definitive technical solutions to the safety and reliability issues that have long plagued our rolling stock,' it added.
Regional government sources this afternoon raised the death toll to 'at least' 68. The previously reported figure stood at 64. Reports said more than 100 suffered injuries, with 15 in a critical condition.
The identities of some of those confirmed dead are beginning to emerge. According to reports, one of the people who died is Spain's former Minister of Employment, Fatima Báñez.
The Civil Guard confirmed that one of their officers, Jose Manuel, 31, tragically died in today's incident, El Pais reports.
Esther Padilla, spokesman for the Castilla La Mancha region, said that the number of casualties 'will surely rise,' adding that 'the situation is going to worsen.'
The president of Castilla de la Mancha, Emiliano Garcia, has confirmed that more than 80 people were injured in the collision, with 50 in serious condition.
Rescue teams at the scene have described seeing 'unspeakable and horrific' things, according to local media.
Jesus, a survivor of the crash, told a Spanish radio station: 'I saw a boy with an amputated arm walking away from the wreckage.'
David Gómez, a construction worker, was working with his brother and another colleague nearby when they heard the crash and ran to help, he told the newspaper El País.
'People were trying to get out through the windows... We cut through some fences to access the area and treated people with the first-aid kits we had brought,' until emergency services arrived, he said.
'As I was trying to pull a young woman out, there was a piece of a leg.'
Speaking to Antena 3, Spanish architect Joaquín Torres, recounted the tragic moment a woman died in his arms.
'I went up to a woman who said she was cold... she died in my arms. It was horrible, [she was] without legs, without arms,'
One carriage caught fire and smoke was still coming from the wrangled wreckage of what was left of the carriage as the first emergency responders reached the scene.
Horrifying photos show passengers evacuating the train as entire carriages have been reduced to rubble. One picture appears to show a piece of track going through the carriage.
Another passenger on one of the trains told local media that the carriage was 'completely wrecked' moments after the crash.
'The impact was tremendous. The carriage was completely destroyed. A man fell on top of me, but we were able to help him. There were people with bruises,' he said, adding, 'It was a very dramatic scene.'
Speaking to El Pais, one passenger said she was left 'spinning on the floor' after the impact of the crash.
Miguel, a passenger travelling with several colleagues in the rear car of one of the trains, described to COPE radio the moment of the accident.
'We heard a massive roar, a truly enormous thud that went on for 10 seconds, as if the train were about to derail. Through the right-hand window, we could see a wrecked train – I imagine it must have been the other one,' he said.
Passenger Sebastián Herrero, who was travelling on the Iryo train, told Spanish newspaper El Mundo that he was 'thrown against the seats' when the trains collided and described how he was 'in the air for about four or five seconds', which felt like 'a lifetime.'
The 46-year-old continued: 'There are three carriages of the Iryo, the three at the end, from which they keep taking people out and putting sheets on them. Corpses. It's apocalyptic. In those three carriages, I find it very hard to believe that there are any living people. It's a twisted mass of metal. It's as if they had planted a bomb.'
The Iryo train driver, a woman, is said to be okay, but the whereabouts of the driver of the other train and a trainee with him is 'unknown' and they are feared to be among the casualties.
Rail operator Adif said in a message on X: 'Traffic on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed rail line has been suspended following a rear-end collision between two trains.'
Adif said the incident occurred between the towns of Mora and Orgaz, and involved a Renfe and an Iryo high speed train travelling from Madrid to Seville around 9am local time.
Over 100 trains have been affected by the disruption to service following the accident. There is no estimate for when service will resume.
Manuel Galan, the mayor of Urda near the central city of Toledo, said he had been asked by emergency services to prepare a sports hall to accommodate the injured.
There, family members are beginning to recieve confirmation of the deaths of their loved ones, according to local reports.
Minister Antonio Sanz Cabello added: 'We have sent mobile ICUs and a logistics support vehicle from the Andalusian Health Service to support care for those affected.'
The Minister of Health, Mónica García said her department is 'mobilising all the resources at our disposal' in responce to the crash.
She added: 'I am also working with the government of Castilla-La Mancha to make available all the resources they may need.'
Meanwhile, the The Madrid Community Blood Transfusion Centre and the Mancha Centro General Hospital in Alcázar de San Juan have made an 'urgent appeal for blood donations.'
Hospital management of the latter centre have also asked staff to discharge as many patients as possible to make room for the train crash victims, according to El Mundo.
Around 400 people are believed to have been travelling in the two trains that crashed
A photo from the scene shows the extreme destruction to the carriage, and what appears to be a piece of track going through the carriage
A passenger rescued from one of the trains involved in a collision arrives in Urda, Spain
Horrifying photos show passengers evacuating the train as entire carriages have been reduced to rubble
Passengers are seen
A passenger on one of the trains told local media that the carriage was 'completely wrecked' moments after the crash
Smoke was still coming from the wrangled wreckage of what was left of the carriage as the first emergency responders reached the scene.
Desperate family members are waiting at Atocha - Madrid's main train station - for information on their relatives who were traveling on the affected trains.
Carlos Larquin's aunt was traveling alone on one of the trains. Speaking to El Pais, he said: 'I don't know if she's alive or injured because she's not answering her phone. I have her ticket. I'm trying to talk to Iryo to see if they can tell me which carriage was affected. I'm trying to contact her, but nothing.'
In Seville, loved ones are also waiting to hear any information on their friends and family who were traveling on the train.
Speaking to El Mundo, Joaquina, a woman who was waiting for her friend to arrive at the station, recounted she has been attempting to contact her but cannot get through.
The accident in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha comes one month before Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who faced heavy criticism for the disaster in Adamuz, seeks to overturn unfavourable polls in an early general election.
Sanchez offered his 'affection, solidarity and support to all the victims' of the train crash.
In a post on X, the leader said he was 'shocked by the serious train accident in Toledo'.
'I remain in constant contact with the minister of transport and with the president of Castilla-La Mancha,' he said.
'Emergency services are working on the ground to assist those affected and ensure their safety, in coordination with all the involved administrations.'
The King and Queen of Spain offered their condolences, posting on their official X account that they were 'deeply saddened and concerned' by the accident.
'We share in the grief of the families and loved ones of the deceased and send our best wishes to the injured and those affected.
'Our support also goes out to the emergency teams and all those working in the area to help in any way possible under these circumstances,' the post read.
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the President of the Community of Madrid, declared three days of official mourning for the victims of the railway accident.
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni stated Italy will stand with the Spanish people 'in these difficult times.'
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said 'Europe mourns' with the victims after the 'devastating news', while French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his country's 'solidarity'.
The tragic events today come as Spain has been experiencing a multitude of railway incidents in recent years.
In January of this year, 46 people died in southern Spain when a train jumped the track and hit an oncoming train.
The crash was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that left 80 people dead and 145 injured when an eight-carriage high-speed train veered off the track on a sharp bend near the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela, slamming into a concrete wall and bursting into flames.
