Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

Image source, Reuters

Transport minister Oscar Puente appeared in front of the cameras for the first time a short while ago to share some details about the crash. The accident, he said, was "truly unbelievable".

According to Puente, a computer failure led to the initial halt of six moving trains, including the two trains that subsequently collided.

"In the event of a system failure, the control centre takes over," Puente says, adding it was the control centre which decided to allow the trains to move again, without any speed restrictions.

That decision, Puente said, was made "under inexplicable circumstances". It resulted in the Renfe train crashing into the Iryo train, which was stationary on the tracks further ahead.

The rail operator Iryo says its train was "struck from behind" by a Renfe train "due to causes that are still unknown".

The rail operator also confirms in a post on X, external that the affected train was carrying 147 passengers, three crew members, one barista, and one driver.

It adds that it's working with the other rail operators involved to "clarify the causes" of the crash.

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Spanish journalist Roberto Gómez has described being on the high-speed train when it crashed into the train in front on the same track.

Gómez said he had been asleep when the train stopped and an announcement was relayed to passengers that there was congestion on the tracks. The train began to move again, he explained, and then the crash happened.

"The impact was terrible," he told Onda Cero radio. "You can imagine, the carriage is completely destroyed. All the suitcases are all over the wrecked carriage."

Gómez suffered only minor injuries but described another passenger falling on top of him and sustaining a deep gash on his head.

"We were able to help people who had suffered severe blows to their chest and ribs," he said.

The situation was extremely chaotic and very distressing, and several minutes later he and others eventually managed to climb out of the window, he added.

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Image source, Reuters

For most Spanish political leaders the devastating scenes emerging on the high-speed rail line south of Toledo mean that the campaign ahead of the 29 November general election is for the moment on hold.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the conservative People's Party leader who's seen as the front-runner in the election race, has said "the priority now is to attend to the victims" and the PP has suspended all its campaign activity.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialist PSOE has also cancelled its events today, and he's given all his "affection, solidarity and support" to anyone caught up in the tragedy.

But there's no such suspension of politics for Spain's far-right Vox party, which is seen as a possible coalition partner for Feijóo's conservatives after next month's vote.

Santiago Abascal has gone on TV to condemn the "deterioration of infrastructure and institutions in Spain which frankly is totally unbearable" and he has blamed it on the current government, complaining of the "neglect, ruin, betrayal suffered by the Spanish people".

There has been no confirmation yet of what led to the accident, but Abascal also refused to halt campaigning ahead of a regional vote in January in the aftermath of the Adamuz rail disaster, which claimed 46 lives on the same high-speed line.

Image source, Reuters

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is travelling to Urda, the area of the train crash.

The Spanish government says on X that the PM will "support the work of the emergency teams and convey his support to those affected and their families".

"The priority is to attend to the victims and ensure the maximum coordination between administrations," it added.

A massive emergency response is ongoing at the crash site near Urda, while people waiting for news about their loved ones have gathered nearby.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Drone footage analysed by the BBC Visual Journalism team shows how part of the Renfe train fell off the tracks and carriages of the Iryo train also came off the tracks.

Both trains were travelling in the same direction from Madrid to Seville.

Rail appears to pierce through carriage, image and videos showpublished at 13:43 GMT

13:43 GMT

By Sam Howarth, Thomas Spencer and Charlotte Green

A picture examined by BBC Verify from the aftermath of the crash appears to show a long section of railway track piercing through one of the trains involved.

Image source, X

The track seems to have passed through the carriage, and is visible emerging from the roof and protruding roughly ten metres further beyond the train.

Two verified videos, filmed from opposite sides of the tracks, also confirm the bent rail has passed through a carriage bearing the logo of Renfe AVE, the Spanish national rail company’s high-speed service.

Other footage, filmed from the tracks on the opposite side of the Renfe train, shows the bent rail apparently coming through one of the carriages.

Image source, X

Guy Hedgecoe
Reporting from Urda

I'm about 200m away from the crash site and I can see one of the carriages lying on its side.

We know there are at least 80 people who are injured - fifty of those are believed to be serious.

Many of them are being treated in nearby hospitals, others are being sent to Madrid which is about 100 miles (140km) away.

There have been helicopters coming over the crash site all morning.

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Spain was already reeling from the Adamuz high-speed rail disaster outside Córdoba, in which 46 people died.

It happened on the same high-speed rail line, but much further south. Now we have learned that the death toll near Urda today has risen to 64.

Not since July 2013 has Spain seen such a devastating rail disaster. Eighty people died in that high-speed rail crash on a curve on the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain.

All 13 carriages on the train came off the track in that crash, many of them careering into a concrete barrier. In the latest tragedy four carriages left the track, but two trains were involved, and again there will be close scrutiny on Spain's rail infrastructure, once considered the best in Europe.

The Castilla La Mancha regional government says 64 people are now confirmed to have died in the rail crash.

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) says 24 football matches are to be postponed in "solidarity with the victims of the tragic train accident".

The matches were due to take place today for the first round of the Copa del Rey, the country's cup competition.

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

We've already heard from Castilla-La Mancha regional president Emiliano García Page that the death toll has risen above 30, with 24 deaths confirmed on the high-speed Renfe train and six on the other Iryo train.

Officials say another 80 people are being treated for injuries.

The regional leader has spoken to reporters at the scene of the high-speed rail crash near Urda and given several media interviews, in which he's said that about 50 people are described as in a serious condition and 15 more are in a critical condition.

Relatives of one passenger, former government minister Fátima Báñez, have also gone to the scene.

Báñez is head of Spain's Confederation of Business Organisations, CEOE, which has said it is devastated by the rail accident and awaiting news about its president.

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

Sebastián Herrero, 46, from Seville, was travelling on the train that was hit by the second train.

He told El Mundo that shortly after the train came to a halt, he felt a "terrible, terrible impact" and was thrown onto the seats in front of him.

"After we fell, there were many people with broken noses, broken arms... We started seeing smoke everywhere."

A plainclothes police officer arrived and began ordering everyone to evacuate, he says.

Another passenger, Iñaki, 60, tells newspaper El Pais that he felt the train stop before "a strong impact" that sent him rolling on the floor.

Outside the carriage, he saw injured people and fatalities.

Fernando Seco told El Espanol that the impact was followed by suitcases flying across the carriage.

But the worst came after he left the train and saw a "horrible scene".

"There were many injured people, a lot of blood and many dead," he says.

Local leader Emiliano García-Page, president of Castilla-La Mancha, tells Spanish outlet SER that most of those who have died were on the high-speed train, and there is a lower number of fatalities on the Iryo train.

He goes on: "Obviously, we assume that more dead bodies will appear because we haven't been able to reach the depth of the carriages."

Footage from the scene has also showed several people being treated, while Spanish media reports many patients have arrived at local hospitals.

Emiliano García-Page, president of Castilla-La Mancha, says at least 30 people are now confirmed to have died.

Speaking separately to Spanish media, he warns the death toll could increase further.

A passenger named Miguel, who says he was travelling with several colleagues in the rear car of one of the trains, tells Spanish radio station COPE they "heard a massive roar, a truly enormous thud that went on for 10 seconds, as if the train were about to derail".

He went on: "Through the right-hand window, we could see a wrecked train. I imagine it must have been the other one."

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Spain's royal family say they are "moved and concerned" by the train accident in Urda.

"We share in the sorrow of the families and loved ones of the deceased," they say in a statement on X.

"Our support also goes to the emergency teams and all those working in the area to help as much as possible under these circumstances."

Sergi Forcada Freixas
in Madrid

Most political parties in Spain have cancelled their campaign events scheduled for today.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and members of his government have cancelled their public engagements and are said to be closely monitoring the situation.

The leader of the opposition, conservative Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and most other candidates standing in the general election on 29 November have done the same.

The exception is the far-right party Vox. Its leader, Santiago Abascal, said Vox would not take part in what he described as attempts to “use mourning to silence criticism” of the country’s rail infrastructure.

Verified video shows emergency services at work at crash sitepublished at 11:44 GMT

11:44 GMT

By Thomas Copeland, Merlyn Thomas and Sherie Ryder

BBC Verify has been analysing the latest footage of the train crash which is being shared on social media.

One video we’ve verified shows the carriages from one of the trains overturned onto the embankment next to the track.

The first carriage appears to have been significantly damaged, with debris littering the ground around it.

Another video shows multiple emergency service vehicles and rescue workers in high-vis jackets at the same location.

Several people are visible under blankets on the grass and in the foreground we can see man holding up an IV bag next to one of them.