What to know about the train crash in Spain

MADRID (AP) — A high-speed train in southern Spain derailed Sunday evening, colliding with another high-speed train, killing at least 40 people and injuring more than 150, Spanish authorities reported.

Rescue efforts were still ongoing Monday and officials said the death toll is likely to rise. The accident was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people when a commuter train hurtled off the rails as it came around a bend.

Here's what to know about the crash:

The derailment happened Sunday at 7:45 p.m. when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the rails. It slammed into an incoming train traveling from Madrid to Huelva, another southern city, according to rail operator Adif.

The head of the second train took the brunt of the impact, Transport Minister Óscar Puente said. That collision knocked its first two carriages off the track and sent them plummeting down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. The collision took place near Adamuz, a town in the province of Cordoba, about 370 kilometers (about 230 miles) south of Madrid.

On Monday morning, Andalusia's regional President Juan Manuel Moreno said authorities were searching the area near the accident for possible bodies.

“The impact was so incredibly violent that we have found bodies hundreds of meters away,” Moreno said.

Explanations about what caused the crash were scant, with an official investigation underway.

Transport Minister Puente called the crash “truly strange” since it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May. He said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old. That train belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train, which took the brunt of the impact, belonged to Spain’s public train company, Renfe.

Iryo said in a statement Monday that its train was manufactured in 2022 and passed its latest safety check on Jan. 15.

The Spanish Union of Railway Drivers told the AP that in in August, it sent a letter asking Spain’s national railway operator to investigate flaws on train lines across the country and to reduce speeds at certain points until the tracks were fully repaired. Those recommendations were made for high-speed train lines, including the one where Sunday’s accident took place, the union said.

Álvaro Fernández, the president of Renfe, told Spanish public radio RNE that both trains were traveling well under the speed limit of 250 kph (155 mph) and “human error could be ruled out.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared three days of national mourning.

Spain has spent decades investing heavily in high-speed trains. It currently has the largest rail network in Europe for trains traveling over 250 kph, with more than 3,900 kilometers (2,400 miles) of track, according to the International Union of Railways.

The network is a popular, competitively priced and safe mode of transport. Sunday’s accident was the first with deaths on Spain’s high-speed rail network since it opened its first line in 1992.

Emergency crews respond after a commuter train derailed when a retaining wall collapsed onto the tracks in Gelida, near Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

Guardia Civil officers collect evidence next to the wreckage of train cars involved in a collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

In this grab taken from video provided by Guardia Civil, rescue workers at the scene following a high-speed train collision, in Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

Emergency crews respond after a commuter train derailed when a retaining wall collapsed onto the tracks in Gelida, near Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

View of the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

View of the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Emergency crews work alongside one of the trains involved in a train collision, in Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

In this aerial view grab taken from video provided by Guardia Civil, a view of the Iryo train with rescue workers at the scene after a high-speed train collision, near Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

Mercedes is among “three or four potential buyers” for a 24% stake in rival Formula 1 team Alpine, the French team's executive adviser Flavio Briatore said Friday.

Ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, Briatore said Mercedes was keen on the minority share — held by a private equity firm which has worked with sports stars like Patrick Mahomes — but suggested it wouldn't come with influence over how Alpine is run. He also dismissed reports Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was in talks to buy the stake on his own behalf.

“Every day is a new situation. I don’t know what is the latest one, but what I say is that I know it’s a negotiation with Mercedes, not with Toto, with Mercedes, and we see. In this moment we have three or four potential buyers,” said Briatore, who has been Alpine's de-facto team boss since last year.

Asked if that could lead to conflict-of-interest concerns about Mercedes — which already supplies Alpine's engines — gaining influence over how it's run or how it votes on future rule changes, Briatore suggested any minority shareholder would be a “passenger” in those talks.

“Normally one company, 75% decide and the 25% is a passenger, and this is the reality,” Briatore said.

Former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is also among the interested parties, Alpine said last month.

Alpine is majority-owned by French automaker Renault, which sold the 24% stake to a group led by private equity firm Otro Capital, which attracted attention by including sports stars like Mahomes and Travis Kelce and the actor Ryan Reynolds in its investment group.

Alpine is coming off a tough year as it placed last in the constructors' standings in 2025. Pierre Gasly earned the team's first point with 10th in Australia last week but Briatore said he wasn't pleased with the team's progress as F1 begins a new era of regulations.

“We are not happy at all. Our performance was very weak and was a combination of different factors, and we know what is the major problem we have in the car,” he said.

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Alpine team principal Flavio Briatore arrives at the track ahead of the first practice session for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Scott Barbour)

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly of France steers his car during the sprint qualifying ahead of the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix, in Shanghai, China, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)