Survivors made their way out and gathered in a field near the tracks. Some sat on the ground waiting for help, while others tried to contact their loved ones.
Describing the wreckage, Gonzalo said: “I was on the AVE high-speed train, in carriage 6. Gómez and his colleagues cut through barriers to reach the site and used their first-aid kits to help the injured, El País reported.
“The train never braked, and I felt that with every millisecond that passed, things were getting closer to becoming serious,” he said, according to ABC. “the important thing was to get out,” he said, adding: “I’m lucky,” ABC reported. “People were trying to get out through the windows,” he said, according to El País. Recalling the severity of the injuries, he said: “When they tried to pull a young woman out, there was a piece of her leg,” El País quoted him as saying. “So yes, unfortunately, there are fatalities,” he added, according to El País.
Towards Seville. It was the first carriage that stayed more or less on the track; all the ones in front of it either flew off or disappeared altogether. I mean, in fact, I didn’t even dare to look, I just glanced around and all there was was a mangled mess of metal, generally speaking. I don’t know how many carriages were ahead of me, but mine was the first one that stayed more or less on the track,” ABC quoted him as saying. His glasses were broken, and he left his work backpack behind while escaping.
Witnesses have described scenes of terror and devastation after two trains collided near Urda in Spain’s Toledo province on Wednesday morning, with passengers thrown from the train and others struggling to escape through windows, according to Spanish newspapers El País and ABC.
The regional government activated the Castilla-La Mancha Territorial Emergency Plan, known as Platecam, at Operational Situation 1 in Toledo.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was “dismayed” by the “serious” accident and conveyed his support to the “victims”, ABC reported.