‘Quad bike hero’ hailed for carrying people to and from scene of Spain train crash | Spain
A lottery ticket seller in southern Spain has been hailed as a hero after driving his ATV around rescuers and victims for nearly six hours after a train crash that killed at least 41 people and injured dozens more.
Gonzalo Sánchez, 43, was at his home in the small town of Adamuz when the town’s WhatsApp group received word that a train had derailed nearby.
Sánchez jumped into action, grabbed a few tools and drove to the field. He was among the first to arrive at the scene. “This is something you hope to never encounter in your life,” he said. he told broadcaster Cadena Ser. “The images on television are very shocking, but the situation on the ground is even worse.”
He began doing what he could to help and soon learned from passengers that a second train was involved in the collision. “It was pitch black everywhere and you couldn’t see anything. No one noticed that there were more train cars and people further down.” he told El País.
Authorities later said a high-speed train bound for Madrid carrying about 300 passengers derailed and crossed into the path of a train carrying about 200 passengers. The impact derailed the first two carriages of the oncoming train, causing it to fall down a 4-metre (13 ft) slope.
Sánchez, along with rescue workers, rushed to the location of the second train, about 1 km away, and captured images of twisted metal, debris strewn about and victims calling for help. “The scene on both sides was indescribable, terrible and terrifying,” he said.
Complicating matters was the rugged terrain. The collision occurred in a remote area where railroad tracks are surrounded by towering ridges on both sides.
Sánchez realized that his home SUV could come in handy. “I told them I had an ATV and it could be useful in terrain like this. And the rescuers said, ‘Yes, go ahead,'” he said.
Back on site, this time with his quartet, he spent hours carefully carrying firefighters, paramedics and police across the narrow space next to the tracks and carrying passengers, some of them injured, to safety.
It was an echo of the outpouring of support in Adamuz, where residents went to the area to help, opening their homes to victims and distributing supplies and support at a hastily set up response centre.
Sánchez said he continued transporting people on his ATV until 2 a.m. when a slight bump on the ambulance’s door rendered it unusable. As Spain woke up to news of the devastation on the outskirts of its town, media interview requests began pouring in for the man he killed. He calls Adamuz a “quadruple hero”.
Sánchez shrugged and instead pointed to the hundreds of rescuers who worked through the night to help the hundreds of people affected by the collision. “I did what anyone would do when something like this happens,” he said.
King Felipe and Queen Letizia visited the crash site on Tuesday, where two cranes and other heavy machinery were used to clear debris and remove at least three bodies trapped in the rubble.
Spain’s socialist-led coalition government warned against making hasty decisions while declaring three days of national mourning in the country.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said “all hypotheses” regarding the causes of the fatal crash remained open. He added that laboratory tests should be carried out in the section where the derailment occurred, and the wagons of the train that went off the line and caused the accident should also be examined.
“There is a starting point from which the derailment is believed to have occurred,” transport minister Óscar Puente told Cadena Ser on Monday night.
“Now we need to determine whether this is cause or effect. This is not a trivial matter and it will not be quick or easy. We will need to send the part to the lab; we need to determine what it is. Nothing can be ruled out at this point.”
