12 killed as train hits revellers in Spain

Twelve people died and 14 were injured when an express train slammed into a group of young revellers crossing a railway track to get to a beach party in northeast Spain, officials said yesterday.

"The impact was brutal. The sound was like that of rocks being crushed but it was humans," one witness to the disaster, named as Andres, told the daily newspaper El Mundo.

The accident happened as about 30 people who had got off a local train at the Castelldefels Playa station some 25 kilometres south of Barcelona attempted to cross the tracks at around 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

They were headed to the nearby beach for the annual San Juan festival that celebrates the start of the summer in parts of Spain and which includes bonfires, fireworks and dancing.

The group was struck by an expressing train travelling to Barcelona from the southeastern city of Alicante.

One of the injured is in critical condition and two others are in serious condition, Catalonia's health minister, Marina Geli, told a news conference.

All of the injured are under the age of 28 except for one woman who is 45, according to public radio.

Witnesses said a pedestrian subway quickly became filled by the hundreds of people who got off at the small station, prompting many to try to cross the tracks which were poorly lit at the time.

"Then a train arrived at great speed. It made several warning sounds. In three seconds there were bodies everywhere.

"Everyone screamed, cried, they were in a state of shock," said Marcelo Carmona, who had come with his family on the train from Barcelona.