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| UPDATE:
A judge has closed his investigation into the tragedy, concluding that
it was the young group's hurry to get to the beach that led to the
carnage. He said the official underpass was open, well lit and properly
sign-posted. Castelldefels: a terrible tragedy but spare a thought for poor train driver by Sue Davies I know Castelldefels, a lovely resort 14 miles south of Barcelona, having enjoyed its comparitively unspoilt beach several times. So I was hugely appalled by the terrible night-time train tragedy when a group of impetuous young people in a hurry to get to the beach, with its San Jaun festival* bonfires, crossed the line instead of using the official underpass. The group, mainy young Latinos from Barcelona, was struck by a through train. Twelve were killed and several others seriously injured. The scene was described by one rescuer as “Dantesque,” with body parts scattered along the line. My heart goes out to the distraught families. The resort is just like many others up and down the Spanish coastline - the town separated from the from the beach by a railway (In Castelldefels case the beach is a some way off). Three official enquiries have been started. But while we await the findings, spare a thought for the poor train driver, who - as was quickly ascertained - was not drunk, not on drugs and not above the speed limit. And who, so it seems, obeyed the regulations by sounding the train’s horn as he approached the station. The tragedy brought to mind a South Wales railwayman telling me some years ago that what train drivers feared most of all was suddenly seeing someone on the rail ahead of them and being unable to stop in time. Often it is someone committing suicide. Such drivers often experience terrible trauma, even if clearly they were not at fault. Some never work again. I pray that somehow the Castelldefels train driver will come through this awful experience. He's going to need a lot of help. * San Juan (St John) is a Catalan festival to herald the official start of summer. Originally a pagan festival, it was taken over by the Catholic church and renamed St John's Day, he being one of Catalunya's patron saints. Pagans celebrated with fire, represented these days by beach bonfires and fireworks, the bigger the bang the better.
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