Train collision in Spain kills at least 11

The cars of a passenger train and a goods train sit in a twisted pile after a collision in Chinchilla, (some 15 km east of Albacete) early Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Authorities said 38 people were injured in the crash Tuesday evening, when a passenger train carrying about 90 people and an empty freight train collided near Chinchilla in Albacete province, 155 miles southeast of Madrid.

Development Minister Francisco Alvarez Cascos said the cause of the crash may have been a railway worker who gave a wrong signal. Normally, one of the trains would have been diverted onto a side track while the other continued on the line.

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The locomotive and first few cars of the Talgo passenger train caught fire after the crash and TV footage showed flaming cars piled on the tracks.

Six charred bodies were recovered from the train's bar-restaurant Wednesday morning, raising the death toll to 11, said Antonio Peinado, head of Albacete's fire service.