New railway tragedy in Spain: one dead and at least 37 injured after train crash in Barcelona

A commuter train crashed and derailed Tuesday night near Barcelona in an accident that left the train driver dead and at least 37 people injured. According to local officials, the event took place after the Rodalies train collided with a retaining wall that suddenly fell onto the track, between Gelida and Sant Sadurní. So far, it is known that four of the injured people suffered serious injuries.

The firefighters of the Generalitat, who have activated 70 troops, had to extract one of the people who had been trapped inside the train, in an operation that lasted an hour. The front of the train was completely destroyed.

The accident occurred at a time when strong storms are lashing the northeast of Spain, to the point that many coastal areas in both the east and northwest of the country have declared the maximum alert due to such weather conditions, which usually result in numerous accidents involving different types of vehicles. Similarly, different local media have reported snowfalls in the Spanish Pyrenees and strong storms along the coast of Menorca, which have caused waves several meters high.

On the accident in Barcelona, Spanish rail operator Adif said the retaining wall probably collapsed due to the heavy rains that have been affecting Catalonia since Monday. Some forty firefighters and twenty ambulances from the Medical Emergency System (SEM), as well as agents from the Mossos d'Esquadra and the local police, have been deployed to the scene of the accident.