DEATH TOLL IN SPANISH TRAIN COLLISION RISES TO 39

Spanish police said Monday that at least 39 people are confirmed dead in a high-speed rail collision the previous night in the south of the country when the tail end of a train jumped the track, causing another train speeding past in the opposite direction to derail.

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Spanish police that at least 39 people are confirmed dead in a high-speed rail collision the previous night

The impact tossed the second train's lead carriages off the track, sending them plummeting down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. Some bodies were found hundreds of meters (feet) from the crash site, Andalusia regional president Juanma Moreno said, describing the wreckage a "mass of twisted metal" with bodies likely still to be found inside.

Efforts to recover the bodies continued Monday, and the death toll is likely to rise. Authorities are also focusing on attending hundreds of distraught family members and have asked for them to provide DNA samples to help in the identification of the victims.

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. It slammed into an incoming train traveling from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city, according to rail operator Adif.