Fátima Báñez, president of Fundación CEOE, dies in Toledo train crash
The former Spanish employment minister was among at least 64 people killed in a high-speed rail collision near Urda. Báñez, a prominent figure in Spain’s business and labour policy circles, was travelling to Seville to attend an employers’ event.
Fátima Báñez, president of Fundación CEOE and Spain’s former minister of Employment and Social Security, has died in the high-speed train accident in the province of Toledo that killed at least 64 people on Wednesday.
Báñez, 59, was travelling aboard the Iryo train involved in the collision near Urda, on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed rail corridor. She was heading to Seville to participate in the Día de la Empresa Andaluza, an event organised by the Confederation of Employers of Andalusia (CEA).
Her death was confirmed after several hours of uncertainty. Earlier on Wednesday, the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE) had said it was awaiting news about Báñez after confirming that the president of its foundation was travelling on one of the trains involved in the accident.
The collision occurred at around 8:54 a.m. local time, when a Renfe AVE high-speed train carrying 397 passengers struck an Iryo train that was stopped on the track with 147 people on board, according to information released by Spanish authorities. Two of the Iryo train’s carriages derailed following the impact.
The death toll had risen to at least 64 people by Wednesday afternoon, while around 80 passengers were injured, dozens of them seriously. High-speed rail traffic between Madrid and Andalusia was suspended as emergency teams worked at the scene and authorities opened an investigation into the causes of the accident.
A key figure in Spain’s labour policy
Born in Huelva in 1967, Báñez served as Spain’s minister of Employment and Social Security from December 2011 to June 2018 under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
During her tenure, she oversaw the 2012 labour reform, one of the most significant changes to Spain’s employment legislation following the eurozone debt crisis. The reform became one of the defining economic policies of Rajoy’s government and generated strong opposition from trade unions.
After leaving frontline politics, Báñez moved closer to the corporate sector. In July 2020, she became president of Fundación CEOE, the foundation linked to Spain’s main employers’ organisation. She also held corporate board positions, including roles at pharmaceutical company Rovi and Iberdrola Energía Internacional.
At Fundación CEOE, Báñez focused on issues including employment, training, digital transformation and cooperation between businesses and public institutions.
Her death adds a prominent figure from Spain’s economic and business establishment to the victims of one of the country’s deadliest rail accidents in recent years.
The Urda collision comes just months after the Adamuz rail disaster in Córdoba in January 2026, which killed 46 people. Authorities have not indicated any connection between the two accidents, and the causes of Wednesday’s collision remain under investigation.
