The death toll from the train crash in Spain has risen to 68; Andalusia declared a three-day mourning

The death toll from a train crash in Spain has risen to 68, Emiliano García-Page, head of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, announced on October 28.

"According to the latest information we have, 68 people have died," he said, as quoted during a live broadcast by the local television channel RTVE.

The collision between two trains in central Spain occurred on the afternoon of October 28. At the Urda station in the province of Toledo, a high-speed train struck a train that had stopped on the tracks, causing two carriages to fall from an embankment. At least four carriages overturned as a result of the incident.

Later, the authorities of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia declared a three-day mourning period following the loss of life. The mourning will continue through October 31.

The newspaper El Pais identifies human error, occurring against the backdrop of a signaling system failure, as the primary cause of the accident. 

It is believed that an employee of the company Adif authorized the departure of a Renfe train, even though the track was already occupied by a train operated by Iryo.

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