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The screams started in the dark, without warning. One moment there was the steady rhythm of a high-speed train cutting through southern Spain, the low hum that lulls passengers into half-sleep. The next, metal shrieked against metal, glass detonated, and an ordinary journey collapsed into terror. In a matter of seconds, a quiet Sunday evening turned into one of the deadliest rail disasters Spain has seen in more than a decade.
Passengers had boarded the train expecting nothing more than a routine trip between Málaga and Madrid. Families settled into seats, children dozed, travelers scrolled on phones or stared out into the darkness. There was no sense of danger, no hint that anything was about to go wrong. Then, near the small town of Adamuz in the province of Córdoba, the unthinkable happened.
Survivors described a sound “like thunder exploding inside the train.” Others said it felt as if the ground vanished beneath them. Floors tilted at impossible angles. Luggage flew. People were thrown from their seats, crashing into walls, into each other, into anything within reach. In some carriages, passengers found themselves suddenly upside down, disoriented and bleeding, struggling to understand whether they were alive or dead.
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