It was approaching 08:30 (07:30 GMT) on a normal Wednesday. Two high-speed trains were travelling south from the Spanish capital, Madrid, to Seville.

One, run by state-owned operator Renfe had 397 passengers on board. Ahead of it on the same line was a train of Iryo private operator with 147 passengers. A reported issue with the automatic signalling system - a computer failure - had forced all trains to halt on the affected stretch.

Then the impossible happened, Spain's transport minister said, as the Renfe train was ordered to proceed in "error".

It crashed into the back of the other train between municipalities Mora and Orgaz, about 140km (87 miles) south of Madrid.

Broken arms, broken noses, rail through the roof

Some of the passengers were asleep, some had already started their working day on laptops - and others scrolled through their apps on their phones.

The journey was interrupted with an announcement that there was congestion on the tracks. This lasted a few minutes - for some, a bit longer for others.