Ander Azpiroz

Madrid

Friday, January 30, 2026, 13 :17

The funeral mass honouring the 45 victims of the Adamuz train crash took place on 29 January at the Carolina Marín sports centre in Huelva – the province mourning the highest number of fatalities.

The 336 relatives present at the religious ceremony rejected the planned state funeral for 30 January. The mourners stated that they only wanted to attend a burial “in God’s Presence”.

The funeral was not held in Huelva Cathedral, because the church’s main congregation could not hold the 5,000 attendees. This included some passengers who were visibly injured.

The ceremony, despite the new venue, had a religious theme, which was requested by the families, in order to eliminate all political undertones.

The bishop of Huelva, Santiago Gómez Sierra, officiated the mass, while bishop emeritus José Vilaplana read the names of the 45 people killed.

Monsignor Gómez Sierra read a message from the pope and told the attendees that “God does not disapprove” of their mourning.

While the grief of the mourners was the main focus, the ceremony was fraught with political tension due to the absence of several principal figures of authority, including prime minister Pedro Sánchez.

Nati de La Torre’s daughter, who was one of 45 victims, spoke out loudly at the funeral.

Accompanied by her brother, Liliana Sáenz spoke on behalf of all the grieving families, saying that the two trains were not just full of victims but of “virtues and flaws, triumphs and defeats, longings and silence”. She stated that “they were carriages of hope”.

Sáenz noted that the clocks of 45 families stopped at 7.45pm on 18 January. After the accident, the survivors waited in the civic centre for news. As the time passed, they realized that they would be returning home without their loved one.

“The 45 on the train,” Sáenz continued, “were part of a society so polarised that it began to crack a long time ago and we were not realising it.” Her message was an obvious jab at politicians.

“Only justice and the truth will heal this wound,” added she, urging for justice. In a symbolic gesture, she asked the same question as all mourners.

Sáenz thanked the church authorities for organising the only tribute the families wanted. The affected families had strongly opposed the state funeral organised by Sánchez and the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno. In response, both the regional and central governments decided to delay the state ceremony.

While the well-received King and Queen of Spain spoke to the victims’ families, PM Pedro Sánchez did not attend, likely due to the sensitive nature of the accident’s aftermath. Minister of Transport Óscar Puente could also not attend, as he had to appear before the Senado (Spain’s higher house) to give an account of the tragedy.

The same day, the President of the Madrid Regional Government Isabel Ayuso conducted a local funeral which increased tensions. Ayuso’s funeral was seen by many as a political stunt, which was overshadowed in some ways by the Huelva official ceremony.

The King and Queen presided at the mass, where they spoke for over an hour to the families of the victims. The royal couple was welcomed by the funeral attendees.

Felipe VI, Letizia Ortiz and the Valencian Regional Government President Carlos Mazon also sent condolences three months ago to the families of those who died in the tragedy of ‘dana.’ On that day, Sánchez did attend and so did President of the Valencian Regional Government Carlos Mazón. Nevertheless, the latter resigned from his position a few weeks later after a resounding public protest.

Leader of the PP party Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Juanma Moreno also attended the funeral mass on Thursday. First Deputy Prime Minister María Jesús Montero represented the central government, but she avoided direct contact with the victims’ families beyond greeting them.