[Anchor]
Two high-speed trains have collided in Spain, leaving at least 68 people dead and nearly 100 others injured. Ten South Korean passengers were reportedly on board, two of whom suffered minor injuries.
Reporter Kim Young-a has the details.
[Reporter]
Carriages have derailed and overturned after two trains smashed into each other.
The trains are severely mangled, speaking to the sheer force of the impact, as emergency rescue workers comb through the wreckage in search operations.
The collision occurred at around 9:00 a.m. on the 28th local time in the Toledo region of Spain.
[Rafael Barcelo / Passenger: I was having breakfast and drinking coffee when I felt a very strong impact. And all of us were flung up into the air.]
A total of 544 people were on board the two trains, and at least 68 deaths have been confirmed so far.
With the number of injured approaching 100, 15 people are in critical condition.
[Garcia Page / President of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain: There are patients who can be adequately treated at hospitals, and 15 are seriously injured and in critical condition.]
The Embassy of South Korea in Spain stated that 10 South Korean passengers were on the train, with two receiving treatment at a hospital for minor injuries while the remaining eight are safe.
The accident occurred while train operations near the crash site had been suspended due to a malfunction in the automatic control system.
Even though the system had not been restored, the trailing train resumed operation and traveled 25 kilometers before crashing into the train that had stopped ahead.
It is estimated that the moving train was traveling at a speed of up to 200 kilometers per hour at the time of the accident.
Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente stated that the control center had instructed the rear train to resume operation, adding that he could not understand why such a decision was made.
[Passenger: We had been stopped for five or ten minutes, and I simply cannot understand how information telling them to stop could fail to be communicated to the train following behind.]
Visiting the accident site, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared a three-day national mourning period starting from the 29th.
In Spain, which boasts the longest high-speed rail network in Europe, a high-speed train accident also claimed 46 lives last January.
Video Editing: Lee So-young
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