Jan 22 (Reuters) – Firefighters in southern Spain on Thursday rescued Boro, a dog missing since Sunday’s high-speed train crash, reuniting him with his owners in a rare moment of relief amid national mourning for at least 43 people killed.
The collision between two trains was one of Europe’s worst rail disasters in recent years, injuring more than 120 people. Investigators are still working to establish its cause.
Boro, a cross between a schnauzer and a water dog, was riding on one of the trains with his owner Ana Garcia Aranda and her pregnant sister at the time of the crash. Both women were injured, with the sister hospitalised in intensive care.
Relatives had pleaded with the public for help finding the dog.
“If I can’t do anything for (my sister), at least I hope I can find Boro,” Garcia Aranda said earlier this week in comments reported in Spanish media.
Police first spotted the dog near the crash site on Wednesday, but he ran off when officers tried to approach him. Firefighters caught him the following morning.
“We knew since yesterday the area where he could be, and today we were finally able to find him and bring him with us, so he can be returned to his family,” one of the firefighters told reporters.
The dog has since been reunited with relatives.
“It has been very difficult and very beautiful,” a family spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Jesús Calero)
