The fatal victims of the collision by a train on the Rodalies R3 line in Montmeló (Barcelona), three women and a man between 19 and 22 years old, were run over this Sunday at a point located "just 100 meters" from a bridge that allows you to cross the road, lamented the mayor of the town, Pere Rodríguez.
The deceased were with a group of friends from Madrid and Barcelona and were trying to access the Duro Festival festival, near the Circuit de Catalunya, via an unmarked shortcut. It is a dirt road no more than half a meter wide.
The director of the Mossos, Pere Ferrer, and the mayor of the town, who visited the accident area last night, reported this Monday that the driver of the convoy tested negative in the alcohol test and that, presumably, "the young people did not "They knew where they were" and took what they believed was a shortcut that led them "unluckily" to cross the track area at an unlit point.
Sources from the Mossos have informed EFE of the age and sex of the victims - there are two women aged 22 and another of 19, while the deceased man was 21 - and that steps are being taken to inform their relatives. of the event.
In statements to El Món to RAC1, Rodríguez has detailed that "just 100 meters from where they were run over there is a bridge to cross the road, but for some reason they decided not to continue on the road." According to the mayor, "it was not natural or imaginable" that road as access to the concert venue. The accident occurred around 8:00 p.m.
Furthermore, Rodríguez has pointed out that, at the end of the "unmarked or signposted country road" that the young people were taking, "there is only an old vineyard." "We understand that they did not know where they were going. If they had gone over the bridge, they would have arrived at the festival by the road," he laments. Rodríguez said at a press conference that the ongoing works project on the Cercanías line R3 plans to put fencing screens in the section in which the accident occurred.
The other three young people who made up the group were transferred in a mild condition to the Mollet del Vallès hospital (Barcelona), where they received psychological care, as did the convoy driver, as Renfe sources have informed EFE. One of them was the one who called the emergency services. For their part, none of the 170 passengers on the train were injured. "A very strong impact has been heard and the train has trembled," one of the travelers told RAC1.
Asked about the criticism received for not having canceled the festival after the accident, Rodríguez points out that, despite the fact that his "first reaction was to cancel the festival, the security forces" advised against it. "There were 15,000 or 16,000 people there, of which 5,000 or 6,000 had come by public transport. Trains do not run at dawn, and evacuating 15,000 people and leaving them without the possibility of exit and without transport could have caused a public order problem ".
Until now there had never been an accident of this nature in Montmeló. The mayor of the town assures that they are not considering burying the tracks of the R3 line (as those of the R2 are) because in that area it would be complicated, but that now that the works to split the R3 are being carried out, which What will be done is to put screens on the road: "The screening is planned for six or seven months," the mayor highlighted in RAC1.
