At least 77 people have been killed and more than 100 injured as a passenger train derailed in north-western Spain.
The train, which was heading from Madrid to Ferrol, crashed off the tracks near Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.
More than 70 bodies are reported to have been removed from the wreckage.
State-owned train operator Renfe said in a statement that 218 passengers and an unspecified number of staff were on board at the time of the accident. Renfe said the derailment happened at 8.41pm local time on a high-speed section that was inaugurated two years ago.
Feast day festivities planned in Santiago de Compostela were cancelled, town hall spokeswoman Maria Pardo told Spanish National television TVE.
A photographer at the scene said he saw dozens of what appeared to be dead bodies being extracted from the wreck by emergency workers. TVE showed footage of what appeared to be several bodies covered by blankets alongside the tracks next to the damaged train wagons and rescue workers entering toppled carriages through broken windows.
The accident occurred near the station in Santiago de Compostela, 60 miles south of El Ferrol. Rescue workers were also seen in the television images caring for people still inside some of the wagons.
Television footage showed one wagon pointing upwards into the air with one of its ends twisted and disfigured. Another carriage that had been severed in two could be seen lying on a road near the track.
The train, which belongs to the state-owned Renfe company, was not an AVE high speed train, but it was a relatively luxurious version that uses the same track as Spain’s fastest expresses.
It was Spain’s deadliest train accident in decades. In 1944, a train travelling from Madrid to Galicia crashed and killed 78 people. Another accident in 1972 left 77 dead on a track to south-western Seville, according to Spanish news agency Europa Press.
King Juan Carlos and prime minister Mariano Rajoy, a native of Galicia, both offered their condolences. Mr Rajoy said he would visit the site later today.
The incident happened as Catholic pilgrims converged on Santiago de Compostela to celebrate a festival honouring St James, the disciple of Jesus whose remains are said to rest in a shrine. The city is the main gathering point for the faithful who make it to the end of the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route that has drawn Christians since the Middle Ages.
The crash happened about an hour before sunset after the train emerged from a tunnel and derailed on the curve – sending cars flying off the tracks.
Officials said they believed the crash was an accident but declined to offer more details, saying an investigation was under way into the cause. Renfe said that it – and track operator Adif – were collaborating with a judge who has been appointed to probe the accident.