Flames spread through the wrecked carriages

Some said they would never forget the scenes they had witnessed as trapped passengers fought to escape the flames.

"I thought we were all going to die. We saw that the first cars were on fire. It was horrible," one traveller, Mercedes, told Spanish radio.

"We heard screams, but we couldn't do anything."

Another traveller described how one of the first-class wagons was "completely flattened, pressed together like an accordion" by three of the freight train wagons that landed on top of it.

At least 19 people died in the impact and fire which followed.

We were all thrown to the ground, one on top of the other. I saw flames in the wagon from where I'd come. I'm very lucky Passenger

Francisca Naranjo escaped from the buffet car where at least half a dozen charred bodies were later found.

"I felt a terrible shock," she said. "We were all thrown to the ground, one on top of the other. I saw flames in the wagon from where I'd come. I'm very lucky."

Another traveller, Nieto Pinto, said also she had an incredible escape.

I couldn't get close to them... I can't forget that image Local resident

"I saved myself because I was in the toilet at the moment of the collision," she said.

"I reeled from side to side. When I tried to get out to find my husband there was a tremendous fire, everybody was screaming.

One resident who rushed to the scene from his nearby home said he had been unable to help trapped passengers.

"I couldn't get close to them... I can't forget that image," said Juan Carlos Garcia Morate said. "I saw horrible scenes."

From when we arrived we knew no one was alive, that was absolutely certain Regional fire chief Antonio Peinado

By the time firefighters reached the scene, the intensity of the inferno meant there was no hope of survivors in the front part of the train.

"From when we arrived we knew no one was alive, that was absolutely certain," said Antonio Peinado, head of the provincial fire service.

"If there had been the slightest chance that someone was alive we would never have suspended the rescue operations."

The head from the blazes was so intense it that search efforts had to be called off overnight on Tuesday.

Some of the survivors who had already got out of the train remained seriously ill in hospital on Wednesday.

The crash, which happened as the train travelled to Cartagena from Madrid, appears to have been the result of human error, said rail officials.