Mora la Nueva railway accident
In the railway accident at Mora la Nueva on February 12, 1949, an express train from Barcelona to Madrid between the stations of Els Guiamets and Mora la Nueva ( Catalan : Mora la Nova ) derailed . 40 people died.
the accident
The stretch between Els Guiamets and Mora la Nova was downhill. Six minutes after the train the station Els Guiamets had left that occurred around 22:15 accident at kilometer 536.6 kilometers. The locomotive derailed. Three wagons of the train fell down a 39-meter-high embankment and were left lying in the dried up stream bed of the Asmat .
consequences
40 people died and about 100 were also injured. Among the dead were one US citizen and two British citizens.
The Franco dictatorship claimed that the cause was an attack by the communist Maquis resistance movement. The rail fastenings have been removed. A few days after the accident, the censored press reported about the funeral of the victims, then there was absolute silence about the accident - a common practice under the Franco dictatorship. Two people were arrested, at least one of them in May 1950 in Lucena del Cid by firing squad executed .
The Maquis resistance movement, however, declined responsibility for the accident and pointed out the poor condition of the railway infrastructure . The cause of the accident is still controversial today.
literature
- Peter WB Semmens: Disasters on the rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 .
Web links
- Descarrila el expreso Barcelona-Madrid, ¿accidente o sabotaje? In: La Vanguerdia v. November 29, 2014.