“It could have been something much more serious. It all turned out to be fear, but at first it was fear. shock“This is how one of the first neighbors who went to help exactly to the scene of the accident put it on Saturday evening. train crash in Malaga.

Two trains on the Media Distancia line connecting Malaga and Seville collided at around 9:30 pm on Saturday at El Chorro Caminito del Rey station in Malaga, leading to the evacuation of 270 passengers traveling on the trains. were treated for minor bruises.

According to Renfe and reported by Efe, the accident occurred for unknown reasons at about 21:30 at the El Chorro station, at a time when a train (the one heading to Malaga) was parked there and another was boarding. , in the opposite direction from the stop towards Seville.

A version is being considered that one of the trains partially derailed and collided with a train on another track.

Renfe confirmed that all passengers, about 270 people, were evacuated to the platform, where medical services treated two people with minor bruises.

“Smoke and Two Derailed Trains”

An eyewitness said they immediately arrived to try to help and found a panorama of “smoke and two derailed trains, but we didn’t know what we would find.” “Passengers heading to Seville were even more frightened and we immediately called the police and Renfe. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries,” he added.

“Fortunately, there were no serious injuries,” Francisco Martinez, mayor of Alora, the municipality where El Chorro station is located, said in a statement to Ser.

The incident took place in a narrow passage and the train entering the station was moving at low speed. According to sources from the Malaga Fire Consortium, a diesel fuel leak occurred in one of the convoys.

Renfe said all travelers were transferred by Cercanías train to Maria Zambrano station in Malaga, from where they can continue their journey on buses that the railway company will provide to Seville and intermediate stops.

Francisco Martinez explained that the temperature in the area this evening was five degrees, so the victims were able to take refuge from the cold in the station restaurant until the arrival of the Sercanias train.

In addition to the firefighters of the Malaga Consortium, members of the Guardia Civil, Civil Protection and the local police of Alora arrived at the scene.

For its part, 112 coordinated the emergency response to the accident. 061 sent two ambulances in case transport was needed, and the Red Cross sent an ambulance, which was not necessary.

Train traffic on this section will be closed until the two trains involved in the accident are removed.

For this reason, ahead of the start of services this Sunday, Renfe has developed an alternative transport plan for passengers on the Media Distancia trains between Malaga and Seville.

Travelers will travel between Seville and Antequera by regular train, while travel from Antequera to Malaga and back will be at high speed. Travelers making intermediate stops between Antequera and Malaga will travel by bus.

Renfe offers free ticket changes or cancellations to all travelers who request it.

PP criticizes Malaga government’s “negligence”

The Malaga People’s Party demanded an explanation from the government over the accident and criticized the “neglect and disinvestment” of the provincial executive, “putting the lives of passengers at risk.”

The general secretary of the Malaga People’s Party, José Ramon Carmona, called the central government’s management of the railway service “reckless negligence.”

“There is almost no day in which we do not have some kind of accident, breakdown, derailment, technical outage of the Cercanías, Media Distancia and AVE services, and all this is due to the negligence and inaction of the government, which is not taken into account attention. seriously,” Carmona said in a statement.

The general secretary of the popular Malaga party highlighted the “absolute failure” that, in his opinion, has characterized the management of the government of Pedro Sánchez over the past five years in the province of Malaga, and added that these “neglected” investments can be extrapolated to the entire railway network of our country.”

“What was once exemplary service, a source of pride for our country, has now become a great disgrace and a great danger, all because the PSOE stationed people without capacity and ability to pay in Renfe, in Adif and in the ministry.” , he censored.

The popular leader also recalled that workers at the Los Prados workshops that depend on Renfe said they do not have enough materials, spare parts or personnel to do their jobs.

“The problem is very serious and the PP is going to take this issue to the Congress of Deputies and all institutions until the PSOE begins to perceive the management of the railways as something very serious,” he concluded.