World News: Tragedy in Spain

Some tragic news regarding a high-speed train accident in Spain.

At around 19:30 on Sunday 18th, a high-speed train derailed and crashed into another oncoming train. At the time of recording, at least 39 people have lost their lives, with dozens more in critical condition. On this episode, we read the news story surrounding the events that took place, in order to gain further insight into what happened.

Transcript

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Hey, what's up? What's going on? Welcome to another episode of English with Dane, a podcast designed to help you enjoy the process of perfecting your English. As always, I'm your host Dane, and you can find me on Instagram and TikTok at English with Dane. Before we kick off this episode, a quick update on the English immersion program. We've landed on a date which will be Saturday, 7th of March. We're going to head up to the mountains and spend the day outside, enjoying a nice hike, nothing crazy, and have a great time working on some English speaking skills designed to help you break out of your shell or reach that next level. We'll be guided by my friend Max, who is an experienced outdoor guide as well as a native English speaker, and we're both really excited to create this experience for you. If you want to sign up, shoot me an email at Englishwithdain at gmail.com and I can give you more information. So I woke up this morning to a terrible news story that happened just hours ago. A tragic event unfolded or happened at 7.30 p.m. on Sunday 18th, where a high-speed train traveling from Malaga to Madrid came off the tracks or was derailed, leading to at least 39 people losing their lives. Before we read the headline, I wanted to express how saddened and um shaken I am by this news. My heart goes out to the victims and their families. And if these events happen to hit close to home for any of you, my deepest condolences. I obviously didn't expect to read anything like this this morning, and it's been on my mind since I read about what happened. Remember that if something hits close to home, it means that it is personally relevant or let's say emotionally impactful because it connects directly to your own experiences, fears or situations. In this case, I mean it quite literally, because as most of you know, I've lived here in Madrid for the last 25 years of my life here in Spain. So yeah, it's it's a bit of a difficult one. So let's read the headline and learn a little bit more about these tragic events. I'm getting this from El País, by the way, the version in English. The headline reads At least 39 dead in collision between two high-speed trains in Spain. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has cancelled his trip to Davos and will visit the scene of the accident. The Transport Ministry warns, Albierte, warns that the death toll could rise. It continues and says, The derailment of two high-speed trains in Adamuz, Córdoba on Sunday has caused at least 39 fatalities and dozens of serious injuries, with victims already transferred to hospitals, according to sources from the Civil Guard and the Andalusian Emergency Services. Forty-eight people remain hospitalized, twelve of them in intensive care units in the city of Córdoba. An Ibio train traveling from Málaga to Madrid derailed shortly after 7.30 p.m. and fell onto the tracks where an Alvia train was traveling at 200 km per hour in the opposite direction toward Huelva. One of the fatalities was the driver of the second train. A total of 484 passengers were affected on both trains, and the reasons for the derailment are unknown at this time. Minister of Transport Oscar Puente spoke to the press after midnight and predicted that there may be more fatalities, although he did not want to speculate on the number. Puente pointed out, señaló, he pointed out that the track was in good condition, having been renovated in May, and therefore described the accident as, quote, very strange. The Andalusian Regional Government has requested the intervention of the Military Emergency Unit, the UME, to assist in the rescue efforts, and sources from the regional government have confirmed that the specialized army unit is already in the area. If you're not aware, or if you're not from Spain, Idio is a private company that runs high-speed trains here. Let's keep going. The Idio train had departed, había salido had departed from Málaga at 6.40 p.m. bound for Puerta de Atocha, when at 7.39 p.m. it derailed near Adamuth. Bound for is of course a way of saying where something or someone was headed. So the train was bound for Puerta de Atocha, which is Spain's most well-known and most transited or busiest train station, and also one of the busiest in Europe. Let's keep reading. Specifically, the rearmost cars, Los de Mazatrás, rearmost todo junto, the rearmost cars or vagones, 6-8, came off the tracks and crossed the path of the Albia train from Madrid to Huelva, which was traveling at 200 km per hour parallel to the Idio train at that moment. Again, just for context, Albia is a train service brand operated by Renfe, which is Spain's state-owned rail operator. So, the Idio train then caused the Albia train to derail and fall down an embankment about five or six meters high, according to official sources. An embankment is a raised bank of earth or stone built to support or protect something. I think in Spanish it translates to Terraplen, if I'm not mistaken. So the Alvia train then fell down an embankment about five or six meters high. Man. There were about 50 people traveling in the cars that crashed. The Irio was not traveling at such a high speed, although it has not yet been determined how fast it was going, so it was able to break shortly after the accident. The deceased train driver was 27 years old. Sources close to the investigation report that all of the seriously injured passengers, 30 in total, five of whom are in critical condition, have already been taken to hospitals that have been mobilized. Shortly after the accident, Puente, who again is the Minister of Transportation, traveled to Renfe's H-24 Emergency Center at Madrid's Atocha Station to monitor developments. After midnight, he appeared at a press conference to explain that all of those trapped had been rescued and taken to six hospitals in Andalucía and announced the creation of an independent commission of inquiry, as required by law, to clarify the circumstances of the accident. The minister expressed his surprise that the Idiotrain had derailed and collided with the Albia train, where most of the fatalities occurred. Quote, the Idiotrain is practically new and the track has also been renovated. Specifically, replacement work on this section was completed in May. The accident is extremely strange as it happened on a straight line. All the experts we have consulted are extremely baffled, he said. If someone is baffled, they are extremely confused. Baffled is spelled B-A-F-F-L-E-D. In Spanish, it translates to like desconcertados. So he said that all the experts they have consulted are extremely baffled by the event that took place. Let's keep reading. Listen, this next part is quite graphic and very upsetting. Okay, we're going to keep reading, but if it's something you're not comfortable with, or if you're listening with kids in the car or whatever, or if you're very shaken by all of this, I'll give you a second to maybe skip ahead 15 seconds before we continue. It says The Mayor of Alamuth, Rafael Moreno, was the first to arrive at the scene of the accident with the local police and saw at least one body several meters from the point of the accident. Quote, I saw a passenger who was torn to shreds. We were the first to arrive, and there was a body cut in half. Man There was no light, it was nighttime, the scene was horrific, he said in a conversation with El País. In an official statement, Idio said it quote, deeply regretted what had happened and that it had activated, quote, all its emergency protocols. Passengers on both trains had to be evacuated, according to the state-owned railway infrastructure manager Alif, and service was suspended on the high-speed line between Madrid and Andalucia. The minister noted that incidents affecting train traffic can last for weeks. For the time being, por ahora, for the time being, the railway administrator has also confirmed that service between the capital and Córdoba, Sevilla and Málaga and Huelba will remain suspended throughout Monday. For its part, Renfe also issued a statement after 11.30 p.m. indicating that its president, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, is traveling to the accident site. Information points for family members have been set up at the affected stations, and a psychological assistance group has been set up in Madrid, Córdoba, Huelva, and Sevilla to assist both the victims and their families. There are many injured, I'm still shaking, said Maria San Jose, 33, a passenger in car number six of the train traveling from Málaga to Madrid. Cars seven and eight collided with the front of the other train. San José told this newspaper that the passengers suddenly began to feel vibrations and lots of banging, suitcases started falling, and more banging until the train stopped, explained San Jose. We thought it was a derailment, but when we got out, we saw the twisted carriages and two carriages from the other train upside down, she added. We don't know anything, we still don't understand what happened or how many people have died. Carriages is another way of saying cars or barones, in case you were confused by the two terms. Cars is often used in American English, while carriages is more common in British English. Then it says, The chief fire officer in Córdoba, Paco Carmona, explained on State Broadcaster Televisión Española that crews have been rescuing people with all kinds of injuries, including cuts, bruises, contusions, open fractures. He also said that it is difficult to access the affected carriages because they are twisted and there is scrap metal, seats, and all kinds of obstacles that make it difficult to reach the victims. We have two trains about 800 meters apart, and we have already finished removing the dead and injured, he added, referring to the EDIO train. Man, this is a really tough read. I'm sorry if you weren't ready for it, but I'm I'm struggling a bit. There was a term there that you might not be familiar with, scrap metal. Scrap spelled S-C-R-A-P. Scrap metal usually refers to metal that no longer has any use, that no longer has any use in its current form. When I hear the term, I think of a junkyard, undal that is waiting to be recycled or melted down to be used elsewhere. In this case, of course, it refers to the debris that resulted from the accident. The word scrap is an interesting one because we also use it as a verb, which means to throw something away, or in the case of an idea, to no longer consider it. You can say something like, let's scrap that idea, or I think we should scrap it, and people will know what you mean. It feels a bit weird, by the way, to be explaining these things in the middle of reading about this horrible event. So I apologize if that feels insensitive, or if this whole episode feels insensitive to even put together. The truth is that, like I said earlier on, I've been pretty shaken up by the whole thing. You know, I feel bad about it, and I think it felt weirder to not talk about it than to discuss it here on the show. So again, if all of this feels insensitive, I get it, and maybe I'm not really feeling super rational about all of this. Let's finish up. A journalist from Televisión Española who was on one of the trains, Salvador Jiménez, also described how a strong impact that felt like an earthquake shook the car. From that moment on, they grabbed the emergency hammers to open doors and windows and began to leave the train. The journalist described in a television interview that there had been several hours of, quote, great uncertainty, and that at this moment they were waiting to find out how they would be transported away from the scene by bus. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez reported on his Twitter account that the government, quote, is working with the other competent authorities and emergency services to assist the passengers, end quote. And in a second message at around 1 a.m., he expressed his condolences to the families and the victims. Today is a night of deep sorrow for our country due to the tragic train accident in Alamuth. Sanchez has canceled his planned trip to the World Economics Forum in Davos to travel to the scene of the accident. The royal household also expressed its condolences to the families and friends of the deceased and has assured that it is following the aftermath of the accident with concern. Our love and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured, the royal family said on X. I always have mixed feelings reading about people sending their condolences or their thoughts and prayers, like they say a lot in the US and in the English-speaking world in general. It's like they have to say something, right? And they put out these cookie-cutter statements lacking emotion or humanity because they need to publicly say something, but don't want to risk sounding a particular way about the events. If something is cookie-cutter, by the way, cutter spelled C-U-T-T-E-R, cookie cutter, it is overly standardized or generic or lacking originality. This is a very visual metaphor, really. You can imagine those metal things you use to give shape to cookies so they all come out the same, so they come out uniform with as little variation as possible. So almost like something mass-produced and lacking any soul, I guess. So politicians and organizations tend to put out cookie-cutter statements when addressing tragic events or scandals or whatever the case may be. Okay, I think we'll leave it here for now. I know it's a bummer of an episode, but like I said, it felt weirder or stranger not to talk about it. So I've been following the story closely, and of course, it's still developing, but this is something that has really thrown everyone off, and something that is going to leave a lasting impact on all of us, I'm sure. It's also particularly strange when these things happen in places or services that you frequent, right? I've taken those high-speed trains tons of times, and you never really consider anything going wrong until it does, I guess. It really puts everything into perspective, and I think it reminds us all what we should continue to be grateful about for the people in our lives, and that the things that are going on that you think are important or stressful or whatever aren't really that big. Alright, thanks for listening to this episode of English with Dane. I'll be back next week with something less intense, less saddened, less disheartening. I won't ask you to share this episode with anyone because, well, you know. Alright. Talk soon. Later.