While not the first train incident in Europe this month, it is the most devastating (reuters/ Oscar Corral)

From Yahoo News:

“Bodies covered in blankets lay next to the overturned carriages as smoke billowed from the wreckage. Firefighters clambered over the twisted metal trying to get survivors out of the windows, while ambulances and fire engines surrounded the scene.

The train operated by state rail company Renfe with 247 people on board derailed on the eve of the ancient city's main festival in honor of Saint James when thousands of Christian pilgrims from all over the world pack the streets.”

The government is currently working out the details of the derailing, hypothesizing that, as of now, the incident was purely accidental. Officials claim that sabotage or an attack are unlikely to be involved.

From the people who survived the accident, reports say that the train hit a curve and the carts all began to pile up on top of each other. Reports continue to say that the back ends of the wagons had caught fire and spread to the second compartment.

The accident is not the first of its kind, although the most lethal in recent derailing. Less than two weeks prior, a train came off the tracks and hit the platform at a station in central France, killing 6 people in the process. Said accident is also believed to have been unintentionally caused, via a loose steel plate at the junction.

The Spanish train was travelling from Madrid to Ferrol on the Galician coast when it derailed.

Reach Executive Producer Eric Parra here.