There has been a train derailment in Cataluña leaving one person dead, three seriously injured and 41 with minor injuries.

The accident occurred about 06.15h on the line between Terrassa and Manresa (both within the municipality of Barcelona) and was caused by the debris left by rockfall in a cutting, provoked by the recent heavy and persistent rainfall.

Four of the six carriages were derailed, effectively closing the line to rail traffic. Casualties were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. The rest of the 131 passengers aboard were transferred to buses so that they could continue with their journey.

One of the passengers explained that they, themselves, had opened the carriage doors in order to get out of the carriages, after the train had come to a halt.

The same point on the line had been the scene of two previous accidents; one in 2009 and one in 2011, which fortunately only caused slight injuries to the passengers involved. However, in 2015 and 2017 work was carried out to improve the infrastructure there.

The Minister of Public Works (Fomento) for the Central Government announced that the would be opening an investigation into the cause of this latest accident.

(News: Barcelona, Cataluña)