{"text":[[{"start":8.9,"text":"Two high-speed trains collided in a lethal crash south of Madrid on Wednesday that left at least 68 people dead and many others injured, the second serious rail disaster in Spain in less than 10 months."}],[{"start":21.12,"text":"The trains collided close to Toledo in the Castile-La Mancha region when one train travelling from Madrid to Seville smashed into the back of another that was stationary on the same stretch of track."}],[{"start":31.6,"text":"Emiliano García-Page, president of the regional government, announced the “staggering” number of deaths and said: “Firefighters expect even more to be found. An unmitigated tragedy.”"}],[{"start":41.34,"text":"Fifty-eight people were injured, the regional government said."}],[{"start":45.28,"text":"The accident stoked fresh concern about the safety of rail travel in Spain following a January disaster in which 46 people died when two high-speed trains crashed in Andalusia."}],[{"start":55.76,"text":"Wednesday’s crash occurred when a train run by Renfe, the state-owned rail company, crashed into the rear of a train from Iryo, a private operator, that had stopped on the tracks."}],[{"start":65.8,"text":"Óscar Puente, Spain’s transport minister, said the Renfe train had itself been at a stop but was told by a control centre to restart its journey at around 8.36am, even though it faced a red light and the Iryo train was stationary on the same stretch of track."}],[{"start":80.76,"text":"“Clearly it was the wrong decision,” Puente said. The two trains, which had been 25km apart, collided at about 8.53am."}],[{"start":89.36,"text":"Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the cause of the latest accident appeared “unrelated” to the January crash, which had been linked to a fracture in the welding between two rails."}],[{"start":99.08,"text":"The premier said: “If there has been negligence, it will come to light. If there have been failures in the safety system, they will be met with the strongest possible response, because it is clear that we have suffered two terrible tragedies on the high-speed rail network in the same year.”"}],[{"start":113.56,"text":"The Wednesday crash prompted political parties to suspend most campaign activity linked to Spain’s general election on November 29."}],[{"start":120.68,"text":"Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the conservative People’s Party, expressed “deep concern” about the disaster."}],[{"start":127.72,"text":"Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party, said the latest crash was another sign of “the deterioration in Spain’s infrastructure and institutions, which is frankly completely intolerable”."}],[{"start":140.08,"text":"Images from the scene showed mangled carriages from the Iryo train lying on their side having tumbled down an embankment. At least 40 of those who died were on the Iryo train."}],[{"start":151.36,"text":"Antonio Jiménez Barca, an El País journalist travelling on the Renfe train, said: “I took a terrible blow to the head. I realised the train had stopped. I was covered in blood. There were people on top of me.”"}],[{"start":168.72,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793250448_3775.mp3"}