69 victims, nearly 200 injured - in the first hours after the train disaster in the province of Toledo, the services and media focused on the balance of the tragedy. The more time passes, the more the world begins to learn the personal stories of people whose lives ended near Urda Station. It is already known that 24-year-old Spanish long jumper Julieta Gallego died in the crash, former Minister of Labor Fatima Banez never made it to a speech at a business conference in Seville, and Daniel Munoz will no longer be able to complete the chief driver course - the man was in the cabin of an AVE train (operated by Renfe), which hit a machine standing on the same track. Fate was not kind to the marriage of Antoni and Tonia Barbara Soler.
The couple's story is quoted by "El Pais". Their journey began at Madrid's Atocha station. The trip to Seville was a gift from the couple's daughters - the plan was to spend two days admiring the charms of Andalusia. In carriage number 7, they sat next to each other.
There were several snapshots in Antonio's head: a huge impact, a wagon rolling down an embankment, the sight of his wife when he opened his eyes. The man saw that the ceiling of the carriage above him looked as if it was about to collapse. He wanted to protect his wife with his body, but he was unable to move his legs or arms. All that was visible around was masses of twisted metal. He knew that his wife was suffering from chest and back pain, so when he noticed the rescuers approaching, he shouted: Get her out first.
The couple managed to escape from the train wreck, but the couple was later separated. Antonio went to the hospital in Toledo by ambulance, but there was no information about Toni until Thursday evening.
Long search
The couple's daughter, Sheila, drove her parents to the station that morning. When she learned about the disaster on TV at home, she was shocked. Without thinking for a long time, she drove with her uncle to Toledo and tried to contact her parents. Tonia managed to contact her daughter from the ambulance. She said that she was being helped. She gave her number to one of the Civil Defense officers. The family knew that Toni's condition was serious, but the woman was conscious.
Sheila and her uncle checked every hospital until they found Antonio, who had suffered a spinal cord injury in an accident and had to undergo lengthy surgery. They managed to talk on Wednesday afternoon. In hospitals, families have only 60 minutes to visit their injured loved ones from 1 p.m. A nurse goes into the corridor and reads the names of the injured, one person can enter each of them. The rest are waiting for news.
He said that when he opened his eyes after the blow, he tried to cover Toni with his arms so that nothing would happen to her and nothing would fall on her, but he couldn't move his arms - reported Sheila's uncle. He also remembered that the steam swallowed dirt while rolling down the embankment. Antonio allegedly repeated that what he experienced "was like a war."
At the same time, the family is looking for Tonia. He goes around hospitals, asks about her and publishes graphics with a photo of the woman, hoping that someone will recognize her and point out any trace. The search ends on Thursday afternoon. The services confirm the woman's death. My parents are the people who loved each other most in the world. It was thanks to them that I learned to love, said Sheila to "El Pais", mourning the loss of her mother.
Dozens missing
In a situation like Sheila's for hours, there are dozens of people looking for their relatives. About 70 people are waiting for information about their loved ones at the retreat house in Toledo. Our nerves will eat us up, we are exhausted by this tension, says Maricarmen, terrified by the lack of news about her husband, Cesar Vicente. The woman complained to the media that "no one tells them anything" about the condition of her loved ones, and the search on her own was fruitless. Over the past 24 hours, her family went around and called all the places where a person could go after an accident: first the temporary aid stations in Urda, then hospitals in Toledo and Madrid, and finally the mortuary. And nothing.
Some people try to survive the worst hours in the garden that surrounds the retreat house. Others wander around the corridors. Why won't they tell us the truth? She's dead! - this was the cry heard by "El Pais" journalists in one of the bathrooms.
Outside, psychologists from rescue groups in yellow vests hand out linden tea and red blankets with funny patterns, ready to listen to anyone who needs it. They repeat like a litany what needs to be said in such moments: that there are no official announcements yet, that the services are working as quickly as possible, and that hope dies last. However, some families have already abandoned her.
“There is no way this can be justified.”
Two days after the disaster, the inhabitants of Urda, where aid centers were first organized for the injured, do not believe the scale of the tragedy.
Residents interviewed by RMF FM reporter Stanisław Pawłowski ask whether it could have been prevented and why the security measures that should have protected passengers did not work.
It's inexplicable. There is no way to justify the fact that something like this happened on a high-speed train in this day and age. It's inexplicable. The security system failed. That such a system could fail is unfathomable. This happened because the security system is outdated, says one of them.
There are also voices that the problem is much more serious
The problem we have in Spain is maintaining the infrastructure. For some reason, we do not take proper care of the railway infrastructure we have here. And this is the problem that causes such breakdowns, says another resident.
These questions are asked not only in residents' conversations, but also at the highest levels of government. The opposition is demanding the resignation of the Minister of Transport, and King Philip VI emphasizes that everything must be done to ensure that a similar tragedy never happens again.
