authorities said Monday, saying the country's worst train crash in over a decade was "extremely strange". It was the deadliest train accident since 2013, when 80 people died after a train veered off a curved section of track outside the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela. The crash happened on Sunday evening when a train operated by rail company Iryo travelling from Malaga to Madrid derailed near Adamuz, crossing onto the other track where it crashed into an oncoming train, which also derailed. The interior ministry said at least 39 people died, raising the toll from 21 given by police late on Sunday. Another 123 people were injured, including five very seriously and 24 seriously, a ministry spokeswoman added. Transport Minister Oscar Puente told reporters the disaster took place on a straight part of the track, which was completely renovated,. The first train to derail was "practically new", making the accident "extremely strange", he added. Rail experts "are very surprised by this accident because it is very strange and very difficult to explain at this stage," the minister said.

Rail operator Iryo said around 300 people were on board its Malaga-Madrid service. Renfe, the operator of the second train, has not said how many passengers it was carrying. Spain has Europe's largest high-speed rail network, with more than 3,000 kilometres (1,800 miles) of dedicated tracks connecting major cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, and Malaga. The hundreds of passengers left in the wreckage hampered the frantic work of emergency services. "The problem is that the carriages are twisted, so the metal is twisted with the people inside," Francisco Carmona, head of firefighters in Cordoba, told public broadcaster RTVE. "We have even had to remove a dead person to be able to reach someone alive. It is hard, tricky work," he added. Some of the carriages had tumbled down an embankment of four metres (13 feet), Sanz said. (Bssnews)