UPDATE: A spokeswoman for the Spanish government in the Galicia region has told CNN that 80 people have died in a train crash Wednesday afternoon.
One U.S. citizen is among the dead, according to Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf. At least five U.S. citizens were also injured, she added.
CNN is reporting that a high-speed passenger train derailed in northwestern Spain late on Wednesday, killing nearly 60 people and injuring more than 100.
According to pictures from the scene, one train car was snapped in two and another car was shown on fire. Agustin Hernandez Fernandez of the Galicia infrastructure ministry said that the crash killed more than 56 people and that more than 20 injured victims remained in critical condition early Thursday.
State railway Renfe said the train crashed on a curve several miles from the city of Santiago de Compostela. The train had 218 passengers aboard concluding a six-hour trip from Madrid to the town of Ferrol in northwest Spain when it derailed at 8:41 p.m. local, the railway told CNN. AVE trains in Spain are reportedly capable of traveling up to 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour), but there is no word yet on how fast this particular train was going at the time of the accident.
Stay tuned to TravelAgentCentral.com for more information on the story as it develops.