At least 77 people have been killed and more than 100 injured as a passenger train derailed in north-western Spain.
The train, which was heading from Madrid to Ferrol, crashed off the tracks near Santiago de Compostela in Galicia on Wednesday night.
More than 70 bodies are reported to have been removed from the wreckage.
State-owned train operator Renfe said in a statement that 218 passengers and an unspecified number of staff were on board at the time of the accident. Renfe said the derailment happened at 8.41pm local time on a high-speed section that was inaugurated two years ago.
The Foreign Office confirmed that a Briton was among those injured.
“We are aware that a British national has been injured in a train crash in Spain yesterday,” a spokesman said. “The Foreign Office is providing consular assistance to the family.”
Bodies were seen covered in blankets next to the tracks and rescue workers tried to get trapped people out of the train’s carraiges, with smoke billowing from some of the wreckage.IN PHOTOS: Spanish train disasterSome passengers were pulled out of broken windows, and one man stood on a carriage lying on its side, using a pickaxe to try to smash through a window.
Images showed one carriage pointing up into the air with one of its ends twisted and disfigured, and another severed in two.
The crash happened near the station in Santiago de Compostela, 60 miles south of El Ferrol. Rescue workers were also seen in the television images caring for people still inside some of the wagons.
Tragedy struck an hour before sunset after the train emerged from a tunnel and derailed on the curve, sending carriages flying off the tracks. At least one caught fire in a scene that one official described as “Dante-esque”.
“The train travelled very fast and derailed and turned over on the bend in the track,” said passenger Sergio Prego. “It’s a disaster. I’ve been very lucky because I’m one of the few be able to walk out.”
Another passenger, Ricardo Montero, told a radio station that “when the train reached that bend it began to flip over, many times, with some carriages ending up on top of others, leaving many people trapped below. We had to get under the carriages to get out”.
Xabier Martinez, a photographer who arrived at the scene as rescue workers were removing dozens of bodies, said two injured train passengers told him they felt a strong vibration just before the train’s wagons jumped the tracks.
Officials said they believed the crash was an accident but declined to offer more details.
The incident happened as Catholic pilgrims converged on Santiago de Compostela to celebrate a festival honouring St James, the disciple of Jesus whose remains are said to rest in a shrine. The city is the main gathering point for the faithful who make it to the end of the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route that has drawn Christians since the Middle Ages.
There was no speculation by officials that it might be a possible act of terror, like the commuter train bombing attacks in Madrid in 2004 that killed 191 people.