Death toll in Spanish train collision rises to 39 and authorities fear more bodies could be found

Spanish police said Monday that at least 39 people are confirmed dead in a high-speed train collision the previous night in the south of the country.

Efforts to recover the bodies are continuing and the death toll is likely to rise. Some bodies were found hundreds of meters from the crash site, Andalusia regional president Juanma Moreno said.

The crash occurred Sunday at 7:45 p.m. when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the rails at 7:45 p.m. It slammed into an incoming train traveling from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city, according to rail operator Adif.

The head of the second train, which was carrying nearly 200 passengers, took the brunt of the impact, Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said. That collision knocked its first two carriages off the track and sent them plummeting down