Two trains crashed on a high-speed railway in central Spain, killing at least 68 people and injuring dozens more, authorities said Wednesday.

The crash of the trains — one operated by Spain’s public rail operator, Renfe, and the other by the private rail company Iryo — took place early Wednesday near Mora, Orgaz and Urda, the country’s Railway Infrastructure Administrator (Adif) said. All trains on the route had been stopped, it added.

Spain’s transportation minister, Óscar Puente, said at a news conference that the crash was caused by an “inexplicable” order from a rail control center after a signal failure.

The error, which was caused by a computer issue, triggered an automatic stop for all trains in the area. But the Renfe train was authorized to continue its journey without any speed restrictions despite the Iryo train having halted on the track ahead.

Puente said the train should not have been told to start moving again or should have been instructed to proceed at reduced speed.

“Spain is mourning today,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said from the site of the accident, adding that the priority was the victims and their families.

He said an investigation was underway.

“If there was wrongdoing, we will know,” he said.

Esther Padilla, spokeswoman for the Castilla-La Mancha regional government, told the public broadcaster RTVE earlier Wednesday that one of the trains appeared to have stopped on the line between Madrid and Seville before the crash knocked some carriages off the track.

Citing Adif, she said the Iryo train was carrying 146 passengers and a baby, while 397 passengers were on board the other.

The crash is the second major train accident in Spain this year: In January, more than 40 people were killed in a collision involving high-speed trains from the same two companies.

Sánchez wrote on X that he was “shocked” by Wednesday’s accident. “My affection, solidarity, and support to all the victims and their families,” he added.

said.

A train passenger told El Mundo that the scene was “apocalyptic.”

“I find it very hard to believe that there are any living people. It’s as if someone planted a bomb,” Sebastián Herrero told the newspaper.

The Health Ministry said on social media it was coordinating with authorities to provide all necessary resources, while the government asked for blood donations.

The Civil Guard said on social media that it had opened offices for relatives of victims in several cities. The priority, it said, “is the identification of the missing persons and the collection of DNA samples” from relatives.

A former Spanish minister, Fátima Báñez, was traveling on one of the trains and is missing, according to Spain’s Confederation of Business Organizations, which she heads.