BARCELONA, Spain - Two trains have been derailed near Barcelona, jafter two trains collided in southern Spain, killing 42 people.

The driver of a train was killed, and thirty-seven people were injured, 5 of them seriously, when a commuter train derailed and crashed near Barcelona on Sunday. Nearly a dozen ambulances arrived quickly on the scene, treating the casualties. Thirty-five fire brigades were also dispatched to the crash site.

A second train on the Barcelona commuter network derailed on Tuesday.

"The axle was struck by a rock dislodged by the storm," a statement from Spain's rail network said Tuesday.

Train services have been suspended, leaving hundreds of thousands of commuters without transport.

Spain is still suffering from the loss of 42 lives and scores more injured after a high-speed train derailed, jumped onto a parallel track, and collided with an oncoming train on Sunday in southern Spain.

Rail operator Adif stated that the accident occurred after the tail end of an evening train between Malaga and Madrid, with some 300 passengers jumping the rails near Córdoba at 7:45 p.m. local time, and careening headlong into another train with some 200 passengers going from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city.

Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the death toll had jumped tos 42 and rescuers had removed all the survivors. However, he said the death toll could go higher.

Puente said the cause of the crash was still a mystery and called it "a truly strange" incident. The collision occurred on a flat stretch of track renovated in May. The train that jumped the track was less than four years old and belonged to the private company Iryo. The second train that took the brunt of the impact was owned by a public train company, Renfe.

According to Puente, the rear portion of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train, knocking its first two carriages off the track and down a four-meter (13-foot) slope. He said the worst damage was to that front section of the Renfe train.

Any inquiry into the crash's causes could take at least a month, he added.

Iryo said it "deeply regretted what happened" and was working with authorities to handle the situation.

Andalusia's regional health chief, Antonio Sanz, said 73 injured passengers were taken to six hospitals.

Cordoba's fire chief, Francisco Carmona, told national radio RNE that one train was severely damaged, with at least four carriages off the tracks.

"The situation is very serious," Sanz said, adding that it would be a difficult night.

RTVE journalist Salvador Jiménez, who was on one of the derailed trains, said it felt like an earthquake when the train left the tracks. He said passengers used emergency hammers to break windows, and some were able to walk away without serious injuries. Videos from the scene showed people climbing out of windows as carriages leaned at an angle.

The crash happened in the early evening, and hundreds of survivors had to be rescued in the dark.

Civil Protection chief María Belén Moya Rojas said the crash happened in a hard-to-reach area. She added that residents brought blankets and water to help the victims.

High-speed trains are a popular way to travel in Spain and run on an extensive national network.

Spain's military emergency units joined other rescue teams, and the Red Cross helped support medical workers.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was following the "terrible news" from Cordoba and wrote in Spanish, "Tonight you are in my thoughts."