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Carlota was 10 years old and had to take a language test on Monday. She took her textbook along with her, promising her father she would study while she was away. Fidel, her father, said that because she had missed Friday’s class he asked her to use the trip to review. The half of his Huelva family was on the Renfe Alvia that collided with the derailed Iryo near Adamuz in Cordoba Province on Sunday.
Carlota had her brother, who was 12 years old, and their cousin, who was 9 years old with her. Their grandmother (Fidel’s mom) had taken them to Madrid for the Lion King Musical. Fidel told the story from the Adamuz Nursing Home, where he is waiting for any news regarding his missing mother.
Fidel should have also been on the train as his mother who is in her eighties could not travel with just the children. In the end, however, it was his brother who accompanied the mother and children. On Sunday night, they were supposed to return on the Alvia.
Carlota is currently in the hospital. She’ll have to undergo surgery in order to fix a broken femur. She has bruises, and is aware. The other two kids were not seriously hurt. Fidel’s younger brother remains in intensive treatment with a severe injury to the head.
Fidel has no news on his mother. The nursing home is where he and many other relatives of passengers who have disappeared are waiting for information. Antonio, the owner, did not even charge for a cup of coffee. Instead, he helped victims’ family members in whatever capacity he could.
Fidel’s family is Catholic, devoted to the Virgen del Rocío, the brotherhood of which they are part. It is because of this that his sister, who was in the car to Adamuz with him and learned the children had recovered, held on to her faith. “My mother always prays on vacations. We’re sure she was holding her rosary, and praying for all. It was an amazing miracle. “But she… We still don’t have any idea,” she replied.
Carlota explained to her father in the hospital that she had been studying and brushing up her language skills when the accident happened. All the lights went off suddenly, as if there had been a small earthquake. There were screams and confusion. Fidel’s brother was able, despite how serious the accident was, to get his son out of the broken carriage window.
Fidel’s eye speak of the weariness and fatigue of the hour and the strange place that lies between the happiness that comes from knowing that his kids are fine and the anxiety and fear that comes with not knowing the fate of his mother. He cannot help but remember the last words that his daughter spoke to him at the hospital: “Dad can I go to the train and get my language book?”
