News Beat
Commuter train crashes into crane in Murcia, marking Spain’s fourth train crash in five days | World News
A commuter train has crashed into a construction crane in southeastern Spain, the fourth rail incident in the space of a week.
Emergency services in the Murcia region said four people suffered minor injuries as a result of the incident near the port city of Cartagena.
A spokesperson added the train “hasn’t been overturned nor derailed”. The incident happened at around midday.
Meanwhile, Spanish rail operator Adif said on X that traffic on that line was interrupted due to “the intrusion into the infrastructure gauge by a crane not belonging to the railway operation”.
It added at around 1.30pm that service had resumed on the line, but it marks Spain’s fourth such incident since Sunday, with that day’s high-speed collision in the southern Andalusia region killing at least 43 people.
More than 150 people were also injured in Sunday’s crash, where a train carrying 289 passengers from Malaga to the capital went off the rails and slammed into an oncoming train travelling from Madrid to Huelva with around 200 people.
Transport minister Oscar Puente previously said the head of the second train took the brunt of the impact in Adamuz.
Read more: Why deadly train crash in Spain called ‘truly strange’
On Tuesday, two days after the Andalusia incident, a commuter train derailed after a containment wall fell on the track due to heavy rain near the city of Barcelona.
The driver was killed in that incident, with four other passengers seriously injured. It came the same day as a collision in the northeastern Catalonia region.
In response to the second and third incidents, Spain’s biggest train drivers’ union called for a three-day nationwide strike starting on 9 February.
Read more:
Who’s on Trump’s Board of Peace – and who said no
Why ADHD drug use has rocketed among UK adults
Announcing the industrial action on Wednesday, the union SEMAF said: “The serious accidents in Adamuz and Gelida, both with fatalities, are a turning point in demanding all necessary actions to guarantee the safety of railway operations.”
It added that it would demand criminal liability from “those responsible for ensuring safety in the railway infrastructure”.
Mr Puente told reporters the government “do not share [the view] that a general strike is the best approach”.
