Melchor Sáiz-Pardo

Friday, 23 January 20, 11:12

When the first emergency services arrived on the scene of the Adamuz crash, they thought the only train involved was the derailed Iryo.

According to documents issued by the Guardia Civil, and confirmed by the regional government of Andalusia, it was more than an hour-and-a-half before the victims of another, more seriously damaged, train (Alvia) received assistance.

The documents show that neither the police, nor the first emergency service that arrived at the kilometre 318 on the Madrid-Seville fast line at 8pm (about 15 mins after the accident) were informed that a Renfe was also involved.

Chronology is not always accurate. The passengers of the Alvia train claim that the first alerts were much later than the Ministry of the Interior or the Ministry of Transport stated. According to the Ministry of Transport, the first information about the second train was reported by a Guardia Civil Patrol after 8:15pm. The 112 emergency services notified the police of the accident at 7.47pm.

At 9.16pm, “the Guardia Civil” reported an unknown number trapped people and several bodies in the space between two trains that were about a kilometer away. The presence of officials at the scene has confirmed this.

The ambulances had yet to arrive, but the paramedics were still focused on helping the passengers.

In their testimony, survivors state that they chose to move towards the light when they realized that nobody was coming to assist them. The first patrols came to them as they got nearer the Iryo and they told them what happened.

Between the time the incident occurred (7.43pm), until the first report was issued (9.16pm), confirming the existence of a 2nd train, 93 mins had passed. Official sources claim that both Adif (rail infrastructure company) and 112 were aware of the very serious but confused indications that there was another train.

According to the official Chronology and the data of the black boxes, two calls were made at 7.48pm by the Atocha Control Centre (CRC) from the CRC to the Alvia driver. Both calls went unanswered. Adif got the first confirmation of the Alvia incident through a third phone call from the conductor. She said she had been hit in the head, and was trying to find the driver who was dead by that time.

Alvia survivors began calling emergency services at 7.51pm. According to sources of investigation, the area around Adamuz had good mobile coverage. The calls were also successful. The calls did not come from the Iryo but another train involved in accident.

Selon the reports, on 7.54pm at “H24, and the Adif Protection and Security Centre were asked to mobilize emergency services: Civil protection, Health Services, Fire Brigades, State Security Forces, Maintenance Base Personnel, Remote Control personnel, and Emergency Services of the Railway Companies”. The coordinates for the Iryo were provided to all the operatives. The Alvia was never mentioned.

“At 8pm the first Guardia Civil Patrol arrived on the scene” and confirmed that more personnel was needed, including paramedics, firefighters, and paramedics. The official chronology documents did not mention the two trains at that time.

Fernando Grande Marlaska, Minister of the Interior, was asked during a long and detailed press conference Thursday if the first arriving police knew that there was a second train. But he dodged the questions repeatedly, giving vague answers.

SUR has gathered that emergency services only realized that a double tragedy had occurred when the first Alvia survivors managed to reach the Iryo around 9pm. Iryo’s driver did not know that the Alvia collided with the train when he called Atocha two minutes later. He reported an “snag” on the catenary, the overhead wires system that supplies electricity to trains. A few minutes later (7.49pm), he reported the derailment.