Barcelona crash: At least one dead and 100 injured after head-on collision on a track in Catalonia

Three passengers seriously injured after commuter services crash

Security personnel inspect the railway after a train crash near Manresa (REUTERS)

At least one person has died and 100 passengers have been injured after two trains collided head-on in Spain.

The commuter trains crashed on Friday evening between the towns of Sant Vicenc de Castellet and Manresa, 35 miles northwest of Barcelona.

Three of the injured passengers were in serious condition, according to Catalonian emergency services.

Another 16 were "less serious" condition and 76 had mild injuries, officials said. About 100 passengers escaped unhurt.

One of the trains was heading to Barcelona and the other was travelling on the same track towards Manresa, in northeastern Spain, when they collided at 6.20pm local time (5.20pm.)

Images broadcast on Catalan public broadcaster TV3 showed the torn metal where the two trains slammed into each other, along with passengers who had evacuated on the side of the tracks.

Renfe, the state train operator, has launched an investigation into the cause of the crash.

Spokesman Antonio Carmona said: “The information we have is that there was a frontal collision”.

One of the trains involved in the collision was travelling on the same line on which a fatal accident took place in November last year.

One person died and 44 were injured when a Barcelona-bound service derailed near Vacarisses, about 30 miles northwest of the Catalonian capital.