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Survivors of Madrid train bombing struggle with effects 10 years later

Ten years after living through the horror of the Madrid train bombings, which she blames for a miscarriage, Adeniria Moreira says she thinks of her unborn baby every day and struggles to leave her home.

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Damaged commuter train carriages are seen following a terror bombing at the Atocha train station in Madrid 11 March 2004. Photo: AFP

Ten years after living through the horror of the Madrid train bombings, which she blames for a miscarriage, Adeniria Moreira says she thinks of her unborn baby every day and struggles to leave her home.

She had just boarded a train at El Pozo, the hardest-hit of the four Madrid rail stations struck by backpack bombs filled with dynamite and shrapnel, when it was ripped apart by an explosion.

"There were body parts everywhere, an arm over here, a head over there," said Moreira, 48.

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"There were people with blood coming out of their noses, out of their mouths. There were people without any clothes, who had no shoes."

A decade on, many survivors like Moreira continue to struggle with the psychological trauma of their ordeal.

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"I can go weeks and weeks without leaving home," said Moreira, a nurse's aide by training who moved to Spain from Brazil 16 years ago.

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