2 Drivers Die as Express Train Derails in Spain

Two train drivers were killed when a landslide derailed a Spanish express train early Monday and sent the locomotive and first car plunging down a ravine, a spokesman for the state rail service said.

More than 200 other people aboard the Barcelona-Malaga-Seville express escaped unhurt, the spokesman said.

The train left the track at about 4 a.m. in the Despenaperros national park near Linares, about 170 miles south of Madrid, the spokesman said. Heavy rains had caused the landslide, he added.

Eight cars carrying about 220 people and an unspecified number of automobiles were perched over the rocky terrain of the park after the locomotive and the first car, which was loaded with autos, fell into the darkness.

Eight people were slightly injured and were taken to hospitals in Valdepenas and Linares. All but one were discharged shortly afterward, the spokesman said.

Train service to the southern cities of Almeria, Granada, Jaen, Malaga, Seville and Cadiz was disrupted as rail workers repaired the line. Service was not expected to resume for between 24 and 48 hours.