A Florida firefighter and his wife, both trained first responders, survived a deadly train crash in Spain and immediately began treating critically injured victims.
Josue Garcia Otero, his wife Diamary Garcia, and six other family members were aboard one of two high-speed trains that collided Wednesday morning near Urda, outside Toledo in central Spain. Garcia Otero, 27, has spent four years with Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, where he serves on the elite Critical Care Team.
“We got to safety first, then began treating other patients that were critically injured,” Garcia Otero said in a statement released by his department.
“My wife is a nurse, and she was helping too.”
The couple’s actions drew praise from Jacksonville Fire Chief Percy Golden II, who highlighted the instinct that kicked in once the family reached safety.
“Josue had every reason to focus on his own family and nothing more,” Golden said. “Instead, once they were safe, he and his wife went to work. That just goes to show the caliber of first responders they are.”
The collision killed at least 69 people and injured dozens more, with 57 still hospitalized as of Thursday. Spain’s Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the disaster unfolded after multiple trains halted due to a signal failure. A state-run Renfe train was then cleared to proceed at normal speed despite a stationary Iryo-operated train blocking the track ahead.
Rescue crews worked through Wednesday night using cranes to comb through mangled rail cars. By Thursday, emergency workers were seen carrying what appeared to be a body wrapped in a blanket from the wreckage. Regional leader Emiliano Garcia-Page confirmed the death toll had climbed to 69 after human remains were discovered during overnight search efforts.
The crash marked Spain’s second fatal high-speed rail disaster this year.
Garcia Otero had recently appeared in his department’s Hispanic Heritage Month series, where he spoke about values handed down by his grandparents. The department noted that on Wednesday, thousands of miles from Jacksonville, he and his wife turned those principles into action.
It remained unclear Thursday which of the two trains the Garcia Otero family had been riding when the collision occurred.
