Train driver dies and dozens injured in crash near Barcelona

SANT BOI DE LLOBREGAT, Spain (Reuters) -The driver of a suburban passenger train died and dozens were lightly injured after two trains crashed outside Barcelona on Monday evening, Catalan regional authorities said.

Some 85 people were injured according to regional emergency services, who said 77 were released on the spot and eight were taken to hospital.

The collision happened when a freight train derailed and crashed into a passenger train at the station in Sant Boi de Llobregat, around 14 km (8.7 miles) from Barcelona, at around 6 p.m.

“The driver of the passenger train died as a result of the impact,” the regional government said in a statement.

Catalan regional vice president Jordi Puignero, who visited the site on Monday evening, told reporters an investigation would start immediately into the cause of the crash.

“My deepest condolences to the family of the train driver who died in the derailment,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in a tweet.

(Reporting by Nacho Doce and Jessica JonesEditing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)