Witnesses also tell local media that the railway track was torn apart, with a rail piercing one of the train cars.
Passenger Ana-María, who was travelling in carriage number six at the back of the AVE train, describes how complete chaos erupted. The force of the collision knocked her over, as it did her husband, who hit his head badly, she tells the newspaper El País.
Another witness, 54-year-old Jesús Jerónimo, was travelling in carriage number two of the AVE train.
"I was sitting working on my laptop when I felt a terrible change in speed, and I was thrown into the seat in front of me," he tells El País by phone.
Jesús Jerónimo also describes the nightmarish chaos that followed.
People were thrown around, he says, and continues:
Many were injured and people were shocked.
With a broken voice, construction worker David Gómez tells the same newspaper how he and his colleagues, who were working near the accident site, tried to help.
"We heard the bang and rushed there," he says.
