Photo: X Page Six people were slightly injured today (Thursday, January 22) after a passenger train collided with the arm of a crane working near the tracks in the Alumbres area of Cartagena in southeastern Spain. This is the fourth train accident in the country in a particularly deadly week, in which dozens of people were killed and injured in two other serious accidents.
According to the emergency services of the Murcia region, the accident occurred at 12:04 p.m. when a train on the Cartagena-Los Nietos line hit the arm of a crane carrying out work alongside the tracks. One of the train cars was damaged, but no derailments were reported.
Police, fire and rescue forces, alongside medical personnel and ambulances all arrived at the scene. The six injured were evacuated to two hospitals in the cities of Santa Lucía and Santa María de Rozal.
Óscar Puente, the Spanish Minister of Transport, commented on the circumstances of the accident, calling it "appropriate" to accurately report so as not to mislead. The Minister explained that an arm of a street lighting crane in Cartagena entered the public area of the tracks, hitting the windows of a passenger train that was passing by at that moment.
The president of the Murcia region, Fernando López Miras, wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "I am following the development of the accident between the FEVE train and the crane that occurred in Alumbres. We are in constant contact with the rescue and health forces operating in the area. According to reports, there were only four minor injuries, and no train derailment occurred."
The accident in Cartagena joins two other serious incidents a a minor one that have occurred in recent days in Spain:
Disaster in southern Spain: An Iryo high-speed train derailed near Cordoba, crossed into the opposite lane, and collided head-on with a Renfe passenger train. The collision killed at least 40 passengers and injured more than 100. Trains crashed, hundreds of passengers were trapped, and train traffic between Madrid and Andalusia was suspended. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Accident in Catalonia: Two days later, on the R4 line in Catalonia, a wall collapsed on the railway track, causing a passenger train to crash. One person was killed and 37 were injured, some in moderate condition. Authorities opened an investigation to check the integrity of the infrastructure.
On the same day, a second collision took place in the northeastern Catalonia region the same day.
In Spain, growing concern is being expressed about the recurring problems on the railway network, and it seems that the authorities will be required to provide a rapid response to the series of serious accidents.