Train Wreck in Central Spain: Families Search for Missing Relatives
At least 69 people died and 180 were injured when two high-speed trains collided, prompting a massive local volunteer response in the town of Urda.
By Chloe Martin ·
For families like that of César Vicente, the hours since the collision have been defined by uncertainty and cold. Vicente, an actor, traveled 495 kilometers from Seville to Toledo to find his father, who was seated in 13A on a RENFE train. He spent the night at a religious center converted into a temporary base for those affected by the disaster. "I have my father, and I don’t know where he is. I hope to find him, oh my Lord," he said.
The RENFE train struck another operated by the private company Iryo, which had stopped on the tracks. The impact killed at least 69 people and injured 180, with 110 requiring hospitalization. Authorities issued a call for blood donations as search teams, including those with sniffer dogs, continued their work on Thursday morning.
Relatives have taken to social media to describe the missing persons, offering details about clothing and seat numbers. Alejandra Marroquín posted on Instagram that her sister Adriana was wearing dark blue clothes and was in car 8 of the RENFE train. "We’re still praying, we don’t know anything," Marroquín wrote. Online appeals have become a primary way for friends and family to coordinate information in the absence of official updates.
The collision occurred near Urda, a town of approximately 2,500 residents south of Madrid. The event disrupted daily life early Wednesday, prompting residents to assist in the immediate aftermath. David Gómez, a construction worker, was nearby with his brother and a colleague when they heard the crash. They cut through fences to reach the site and treated injured passengers with first-aid kits until emergency services arrived.
"People were trying to get out through the windows .. We cut through some fences to access the area and treated people with the first-aid kits we had brought until emergency services arrived," Gómez told the newspaper El País. Local residents helped carry unharmed passengers from the tracks to a nearby sports pavilion and prepared food for the stranded.
More than 2,000 people volunteered in the Castilla-La Mancha region. Emiliano García-Page, the region’s president, thanked the 1,300 mobilized emergency service personnel and noted a record number of blood donations. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated that the government is working to support victims’ families and improve security to prevent future incidents.
This is the second high-speed rail disaster in Spain this year. In January, 46 people died in southern Spain when a train jumped the track and hit another. The Spanish high-speed network is the world’s second-largest, behind only China, and had not experienced a deadly crash since it began operating more than three decades ago.
Source: Stamford Advocate
