MADRID, Jan 20 (Reuters) – A six-year-old girl was found walking alone along the tracks on Sunday night after her parents, brother and cousin all died in the high-speed crash between two trains in southern Spain. She had been on a family outing to see the Lion King musical in Madrid.
The girl, who has not been officially named, suffered only a minor head wound. The family had been returning to their home in Aljaraque, on the Atlantic coast near Huelva, according to Spanish media.
The trip to the musical had been a present for the feast of Epiphany, which Spain celebrates along with Christmas. The family also visited Real Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium, according to regional broadcaster Canal Sur.
The girl’s survival was described by the mayor of Aljaraque as “a miracle”.
“The town is broken by grief and with hardly any words of comfort,” Adrian Cano said.
The girl was cared for overnight by a police officer before being reunited with her grandmother in Cordoba, authorities said.
Hers is among a series of stories told by grieving family members or worried relatives on social media or to local broadcasters about those missing or killed in one of Europe’s deadliest train crashes.
WOMAN AND UNBORN CHILD FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL IN HOSPITAL
Alberto Garcia told Antena 3 his daughter, who is five months pregnant, is in intensive care because of serious injuries sustained in the crash. Doctors have placed her under sedation and on a ventilator, he said, keeping watch over the unborn child, which still has a heartbeat.
Firefighters pulled her unconscious from the twisted wreck of the carriage, relatives told El Pais, after passengers smashed windows to escape from the train. Her sister, Ana, who was travelling with her and their dog, suffered lighter injuries. Relatives say the dog, named Boro, is still missing.
Ana said she believes her sister may have been injured while trying to protect the animal. “If I can’t do anything for her, at least I hope I can find Boro,” she told local newspaper El Mundo.
Spain’s government has declared three days of national mourning and high-speed rail services between Madrid and cities in Andalusia are suspended while tracks are cleared and combed over by investigators and rail safety experts.
Julio Rodriguez, 16, was among the first residents of Adamuz, where the trains crashed, to help with rescue efforts after passing the site on his return from a fishing trip.
“I arrived here and my body became someone else’s. All I could think about was helping. I walked the 800 metres back and forth six or eight times. I didn’t stop to think about tiredness,” he told reporters after King Felipe thanked him and others during a visit to the crash site on Tuesday.
Many are still searching for their relatives. Families have filed a total of 47 missing reports but so far only 10 of the victims have been identified, official data says.
Relatives and colleagues were appealing online for news of Jesus Saldana, a cardiologist who has not been found among the injured or dead in any hospital or official lists, his sister told Cadena Ser radio. While they have recovered his mobile phone, they still have no news of him, she added.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Jesús Calero, editing by Aislinn Laing, Alexandra Hudson)
