"Death and destruction" in Adamuz: the worst train tragedy of the decade hits the small Andalusian town

Adamuz / CórdobaWhen he recalls the scene and tries to describe it, only isolated words come out. "Death." "Destruction." "Hands." Each word conjures an image of a dramatic night. Gonzalo Sánchez is 46 years old and from Adamuz, a small town in Córdoba with just over 4,000 inhabitants. His neighbors alerted him to the terrible accident between two high-speed trains which had taken place within his municipality and resulted in at least 39 deaths and 150 injuries. The crash wasn't near a station or in an urban area, but in a ditch between olive groves and forest, kilometers from the town and difficult to access. Sánchez got on his quad bike and went in case they needed help, and he encountered a scene: "Death and destruction."

Gonzalo Sánchez remembers seeing hands moving, others frozen, and many injured people screaming for help to get a family member out trapped between the train tracks and the wreckage of the train. "Help, help," he says they kept shouting. He helped by loading the injured onto the quad bike and taking them to the field hospital that was set up next to the railway crossing. He made trip after trip. He took six people to the vehicle, which still has a few drops of blood on it. Suddenly, the conversation with Gonzalo stops because Alberto asks him for help. It's been 24 hours since the accident, but many questions remain unanswered.

Alberto's biggest worry is whether his five-months-pregnant friend will survive. The whole family was on the train, and now they all hope she'll be released from the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU). Alberto is from Madrid, but he's come all the way to Adamuz to look for Boro. He's a miniature schnauzer who was traveling with his friend and her family. The dog disappeared at the moment of impact. Rumors have circulated on social media that he's been found safe and sound, so Alberto has come from Madrid to look for him. However, none of the locals claim to know anything.

Search for answers

Alberto approaches Gonzalo's quad bike and shows him a picture of the dog. Gonzalo tells him he doesn't know anything and gives him a phone number to try his luck. Alberto doesn't want to talk about how his friend is. Before coming to Adamuz, he went to the hospital but couldn't see him.

The night in this town has been difficult. The blankets and food that the volunteers had brought for those affected are still at the municipal sports center. However, most have already left. Some are at home, others at designated locations to identify the deceased and gather information about the missing.

Meanwhile, a multitude of vehicles from the Civil Guard and the Military Emergency Unit (UME) are making their way up a winding road that leads to the accident site. No one can pass by. Only on dirt tracks can the extraordinary emergency response be seen from afar. This Sunday's accident is one of the most serious train crashes in Europe in recent years. The worst accident in Spain was the 2013 crash in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia), which left 80 dead and more than 130 injured.