A Greek family who were on the train.
“Suddenly, time stood still,” says 21-year-old Marios.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
According to his account in the Spanish newspaper El País, his decision to change seats just before the collision proved crucial to his survival, as the seat where he had been sitting was thrown out of the train.
As Marios and his 18-year-old brother Christos recounted, shortly before the collision, their mother and older brother had gone to the train’s dining car to get breakfast. As they were waiting for their order, the violent collision hurled them into the air, with passengers falling on top of one another.
The dining car derailed, while a deafening noise and the strong smell of dirt filled the air.
The car came to a stop at an angle of about 30 degrees, but the family members managed to get to their feet and search for their youngest son, who had remained in another part of the train and was unharmed.
After they were reunited, the three of them got off the train and took refuge in an almond grove. Despite the traumatic experience, the family expresses its gratitude for the medical care and human support they received.
They were particularly moved by the help of a volunteer who drove them in his car from the scene of the accident to his village before they were taken to the hospital. As their account in El País reveals, the family is still trying to come to terms with the magnitude of the ordeal they endured and to cope with the aftermath of an experience that has left a lasting mark on their journey.
It should be noted that the mother, who has suffered a collarbone fracture and is using a wheelchair, is still in a state of shock, which is why her two sons described their experience.
“It was worse than an earthquake”
Speaking to Mega, 21-year-old Marios described the nightmare he experienced at the moment of the collision.
Marios was on the high-speed Ave train, which crashed into the slow-moving train. “We were standing in the café with our mother when the collision hit us. We all fell on top of each other. After the collision, we managed to find each other because we’d been separated. We got off the train,” the 21-year-old told Live News.
“We waited a little while because there were much more serious cases than ours, and then the local community—everyone—rushed to help us. We went to Urda to a makeshift medical center where everyone helped us,” he said.
“There was a huge mobilization, and they sorted out the cases; they took us to the university hospital, where we underwent neurological and radiological evaluations. We’re exhausted, in shock, and traumatized by the experience,” he concluded.
Source: cnn.gr
