A fracture in a straight section of railway track caused the deadly train crash in Spain last Sunday, killing 45 people, a new report reveals. The crash happened around 19:45 local time when a high-speed Iryo train traveling from Málaga to Madrid derailed. The rear carriages crossed onto the opposite track, colliding with an oncoming Renfe train headed to Huelva. The investigation by the CIAF rail commission found "notches" on the wheels of the Iryo train's front carriages that stayed on track, as well as on three earlier trains that passed over the same track. A nearly 40cm (15 inch) gap in the track was found to be critical. The report states, "Carriage six derailed due to a complete lack of continuity in the track." Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente confirmed the presence of grooves on the train wheels and said, "These notches in the wheels and the deformation observed in the track are compatible with the fact that the track was cracked." Similar wheel marks were found on the Iryo train carriages two, three, and four, while carriage five showed signs of the rail tilting before derailing. The CIAF called their findings a "working hypothesis" needing further analysis. Minister Puente said the fracture likely happened just minutes or hours before the accident and would not have been detected. This is Spain's deadliest rail disaster in over ten years, recalling the 2013 Galicia crash that killed 80 people.