The railway impact site lies eight kilometres from Urda, where access routes were initially saturated. The collision occurred at about 08:54–08:55 on 28 October, near kilometre point 118 of the Madrid–Seville high-speed line. Renfe AVE 2080, travelling from Madrid towards Seville, struck Iryo 6076 ahead of it. Residents bridged the gap in private cars, bringing uninjured passengers and people with minor injuries to the municipal sports hall.
Volunteers drove to rural tracks beside the railway and made repeated trips, carrying three or four people at a time. The hall, beside the municipal swimming pool, became a secondary triage point for passengers who did not need urgent transfer by mobile intensive-care unit or medical helicopter. Two Iryo carriages derailed and fell down an embankment, information from Spain’s Transport Ministry sources cited by EFE.
Urda’s Local Police patrol and all the staff from the local clinic—two doctors and two ATS—were sent to the crash site. The number of passengers also drew in residents, while Cruz Roja staff and local health workers treated people at the sports hall. Some had superficial cuts or bruises. The regional government’s emergency update on 28 October reported 68 provisional deaths—44 among Iryo passengers and 24 among AVE passengers—and more than 100 injured.
The operation differed from the Madrid motorway response, where emergency crews dealt with a car fire and a collision on the M-40. In Urda, residents helped move passengers between the railway area and the town. High-speed services between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalucía were suspended after the collision, affecting trains operated by both Renfe and Iryo.
The arrival of survivors unsettled the municipality of 2,500 people. Medical helicopters flew overhead as emergency convoys passed through Urda on their way to hospitals in Alcázar de San Juan and Toledo. At the sports hall, volunteers handed out water and blankets, while local teams gave first aid. Adif began examining railway systems and the sequence of events; the cause had not been identified in the initial investigation. Renfe activated its assistance plan for victims and families and provided the information number 900 10 10 20. Railway operators had yet to coordinate the passengers’ relocation.
