At least 34 people were killed when an underground train ran off the tracks in a tunnel and overturned at high speed in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia yesterday, officials said.
They said a wheel broke on a curve as the train approached the Jesus underground station and two carriages derailed. Another 32 people were hurt, of whom two were in critical condition.
Malta's Ministry for Foreign Affairs said yesterday that there were no Maltese nationals on board.
Trapped passengers rang emergency services from mobile phones and 150 people were evacuated from the station platform. One middle-aged woman, her face blackened by what looked like soot, grimaced with pain as she staggered away from the station, her arm around a police officer. Officials ruled out a terror attack in a country still shaky from train bombings by Islamist militants that killed 191 people in Madrid in 2004. But Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero decided to cut short an official visit to India and return to Spain on news of the accident, his office said.
"It seems this unfortunate accident was caused by excess speed and a wheel breaking just before it entered the station," government official Luis Felipe Martinez told Spanish radio, adding that the number of dead was still not confirmed.
Emergency services set up two field hospitals in tents on the street and a judge arrived to supervise the removal of bodies. Hospitals appealed for blood donors.
The accident took place days before Pope Benedict was due to visit Valencia for a 'World Meeting of Families'and pilgrims were already arriving in the Mediterranean seaside city.
Thousands of yachting enthusiasts were also visiting Valencia, which is staging warm-up races for the Americas Cup.
A senior police officer at the scene said 34 people had been killed.
Police sealed off streets outside the station and crowds watched under bright blue skies as emergency crews rushed injured people into ranks of ambulances.
A 21-year-old student, Cesar Hernandez, said the train began travelling faster than usual and was shaking from side to side before it braked suddenly and the carriages derailed.
Mr Hernandez kicked the glass out of a door and walked out into the tunnel.