A brand new black sneaker with red trim. Some glasses that lost the temple. A small woman's bag bathed in blood. And bags with soft drinks, bottles and glasses that they surely planned to take stock of at a last stop before entering the Duro electronic music festival, the first in Catalonia dedicated to hard techno, and to which a group of seven young people from Madrid and Barcelona They were heading out on Sunday afternoon. Those last belongings of the victims that were still left next to the train tracks were collected at noon by mossos from the scientific police who came in daylight to carry out a new visual inspection of the section in which the young people were run over. The seven friends crossed at a point that was not authorized and extremely dangerous because it is a small straight line sandwiched between two closed curves and without visibility that prevents those crossing from seeing if a train is approaching.
The area attracted numerous curious onlookers yesterday. The residents of the last houses in the Can Tabola urbanization in Montmeló live next to the tracks. But precisely that section next to their houses has high fences that prevent direct access.
The victims were a group of seven, aged between 18 and 22, acquaintances and relatives among them. One of the survivors has lost his girlfriend and his sister. A real tragedy.
The seven young people arrived minutes before eight in the afternoon at the Montmeló train station. And it is more than likely that they used some mapping application on their mobile phones to reach the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya car park, known as the Espai Can Guitet, located on the Mas Moreneta road, converted into a venue that hosted the festival.
The walk from the train station was about thirty minutes and gave the option of overcoming the train tracks through an overpass that is reached by bordering the Montmeló cemetery. Said like that it seems simple. But at that time, although it had not yet gotten dark, there was not much light either and there is no lighting in the area. Even yesterday at noon, reaching that overpass was not easy if you let yourself be guided only by the navigation instructions.
It is possible that at that point the young people understood that they were shortening their path by crossing the road. Without thinking, due to ignorance, and because the sharp curve prevents it, that a convoy could arrive that in that section can exceed 100 kilometers per hour, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
Nor should they know that a few meters away, less than 200, to their right or left, they had two other options to overcome the tracks. The overpass next to the cemetery and another underground one, just on the other side.
The kids did not see the train arrive and it is possible that they did not even hear it approach because the neighbors claim that the music coming from the festival was “unbearable.” The driver braked and sounded the alarm horn, but it was impossible to avoid the violent collision.
Three of the victims died instantly and a fourth still resisted some initial resuscitation maneuvers by the emergency medical services, who could do nothing for his life. The convoy stopped about 200 meters away, unable to avoid taking four people ahead.
The investigation unit of the Mossos d'Esquadra of Mollet has taken charge of an investigation in which both Renfe and Adif will collaborate with everything requested of them. The driver tested negative for alcohol and drugs and required psychological assistance, which will be maintained due to the magnitude of the tragedy.
Despite everything, yesterday neighbors, onlookers and even the last stragglers of the festival crossed the scene of the accident, oblivious to the risk. The neighbors recognized that it is an area where wild asparagus abounds and it is common to cross to look for them.
They also reported that it has become too common to access the Circuit from that point. Attendees park on the streets of the urbanization, cross the roads and in fifteen minutes they arrive at access 6 of the complex. A situation that these neighbors, like Alberto Serrano, claimed to have conveyed to both the Montmeló City Council and Adif, responsible for the infrastructure, the state of the roads and their safety. The mayor of Montmeló, Pere Rodríguez, assured yesterday that the project for the ongoing works on the Rodalies line R3 plans to put fencing screens in the place.
The accident is the worst since the festival of 2010, when 12 people died and another 17 were injured when they were hit by a convoy at the R2 station in Castelldefels. On that occasion it was a crowd that recklessly crossed the tracks when they were heading to the beach to watch the fireworks at the Sant Joan festival.
