A brand new black vamba with red rivets. Glasses that lost a branch. A small woman's handbag covered in blood. And bags with soft drinks, bottles and glasses that they probably thought to take advantage of in a last stop before accessing the Duro electronic music festival, the first in Catalonia dedicated to hard techno, and where a group of seven young people from Madrid and Barcelona were heading on Sunday in the afternoon. These last belongings of the victims that were still left next to the train tracks were collected at noon by members of the scientific police who went there in daylight to make a new visual inspection of the section where the young people were hit . The seven friends crossed through an unskilled and extremely dangerous point, because it is a small straight sandwiched between two closed bends with no visibility that prevents those crossing from being able to see if a train is approaching.
The area attracted many curious people during the day yesterday. The residents of the last houses of the Can Tabola de Montmeló urbanization live next to the tracks. But precisely in that section next to their houses there are very high fences that prevent direct access.
The victims were a group of seven, aged between 18 and 22, known and related to each other. One of the survivors has lost his girlfriend and his sister. A real tragedy.
The seven young people arrived minutes before eight in the evening at the Montmeló train station. And it is more than likely that they used some mobile phone map application to get to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya car park, known as the Espai Can Guitet, located on Camí Mas Moreneta, converted into an area that hosted the festival.
The journey on foot from the train station was about thirty minutes and gave the option of crossing the train tracks through an elevated passage which is reached by skirting the Montmeló cemetery. Said like that, it seems simple. But at that time, even though it wasn't night yet, there wasn't much light either and there is no lighting in the area. Even yesterday at noon, getting to that overpass wasn't entirely straightforward if you were guided only by the navigator's directions.
It is possible that at that point the young people understood that they were shortening the path if they crossed the road. They did not think, due to ignorance, and because the closed bend 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 have known that a few meters away, less than 200, to their right or to their left, they had two other options to cross the tracks: the overpass next to the cemetery and another underground one, just to the side other side
The young people did not see the train arrive and it is possible that they did not hear it approaching either, because the neighbors say that the music coming from the festival was "unbearable". The driver braked, activated the alarm horn, but it was impossible to avoid the violent collision.
Three of the victims died on the spot and a fourth still underwent initial resuscitation maneuvers by the emergency medical services, who were unable to do anything to save his life. The convoy slowed for about 200 meters and could not avoid hitting four people.
The investigation unit of the Mossos d'Esquadra de Mollet took charge of an investigation in which they collaborate with everything requested from both Renfe and Adif. 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, during the day yesterday neighbors, curious and even the last attendees of the festival crossed the site of the accident, oblivious to the risk. The neighbors recognize that it is an area where there are many marginal asparagus and it is common to cross there to look for them.
They have also reported that it has become too common to access the circuit through that point. Attendees park on the streets of the urbanization, cross the roads and in fifteen minutes they are at access 6 of the site. A situation that these residents, like Alberto Serrano, assure that they have conveyed both to the Montmeló City Council and to Adif, responsible for the infrastructure, the condition of the roads and the safety of the installation. The mayor of Montmeló, Pere Rodríguez, explained yesterday that the project for the ongoing works on the R3 line of Rodalies envisages putting fence screens on the site.
The accident is the worst since the Sant Joan carnival in 2010, when 12 people died and 17 others were injured when they were hit by a train at the Castelldefels R2 station. That time it was a crowd that recklessly crossed the tracks when heading to the beach to witness the New Year's Eve fireworks.
