Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has extended condolences to Spain over a train crash that killed at least 68 people and injured over 100 others.
“I wholeheartedly share, on behalf of my country and nation, the grief of those who lost their loved ones, and I send Türkiye’s messages of unity and solidarity to the people and government of Spain,” Erdogan said on the Turkish social media platform NSosyal on Wednesday.
He also wished a speedy recovery to those injured in the accident.
Three-day mourning
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Spain would observe three days of mourning after the tragedy.
"All of Spain is in mourning," Sanchez said from the scene in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha, adding that it was "not acceptable for a country like Spain" to suffer two such disasters in the same year.
"We will get to the bottom of this. If there has been negligence, it will be known," he said.
Emiliano Garcia-Page, president of Castile-La Mancha, warned that the death toll could rise further.
Puente said an IT failure at around 8.30 am local time (0730 GMT) affected a roughly 60-kilometre (37-mile) stretch of railway, disrupting the automatic safety system and leaving six trains stopped in the affected area.
Rail traffic was subsequently managed by infrastructure operator Adif’s control centre, which authorised a train behind a stationary Iryo train to resume its journey “as normal” at around 8.36 am local time (0736 GMT), he said.
