At least four people have been killed and around 90 injured, some of them seriously, after two trains collided in Catalonia, a Spanish government official said.
A Euromed express train between the Mediterranean cities of Barcelona and Valencia and a regional express train crashed at the station of Torredembarra north of Tarragona yesterday.
Mr Cesar Puig, a central government representative in Catalonia, said the cause of the crash was not yet known but four people had been killed. Officials were later quoted by Spanish national radio as saying three people had been confirmed dead and one missing.
The injured passengers were ferried to local hospitals and health centres by ambulances and taxis. Firefighters and other rescue services worked under artificial light to free people trapped in the wreckage of the two trains, which crashed shortly before 7:30 p.m.
The Euromed express train, which can reach speeds of up to 135 miles per hour along Spain's eastern Mediterranean coast, was travelling towards Valencia at the time of the crash.
A passenger told Spanish national radio both trains had been full of travellers. Other witnesses said passengers had been trapped in carriages, unable to free themselves because of the thick glass in the Euromed train's windows.