After Spain train crash, search for missing dog grips the nation: ‘he is family’
Ana Garcia’s viral plea to find Boro after the disaster spurs a rescue team to search the sealed zone near Madrid
Blanket draped over her shoulders and a bandage on her cheek, Ana Garcia issued a desperate plea: she needed help finding her dog, Boro.
Hours earlier, 26-year-old Garcia and her pregnant sister had been travelling with Boro by high-speed train from Malaga, their hometown in southern Spain, to capital Madrid. The tail of their train car jumped the rails for reasons that remain unclear, then was smashed into by a train coming in the opposite direction that tumbled down an adjacent slope.
At least 42 people died in the crash and more than 150 were injured, including some right in front of Garcia. Rescue crews helped her and her sister out of the tilted train car.
Garcia saw Boro briefly, then he bolted.
After receiving medical treatment, a limping Garcia told reporters she was going back to find him.
“Please, if you can help, look for the animals,” she said, choked up and holding back tears. “We were coming back from a family weekend with the little dog, who’s family, too.”
In the aftermath of one of Spain’s worst railway disasters, Spaniards on social media rallied to find Boro and major Spanish media outlets have reported on the search for the missing mutt.