Dog missing in Spanish train crash rescued after four days

MADRID – Firefighters in southern Spain on Jan 22 rescued Boro, a dog missing since the

high-speed train crash on Jan 18

, returning him to his owner’s family in a rare moment of relief amid national mourning for at least 43 people killed.

The collision between two trains was one of Europe’s worst rail disasters in recent years, injuring more than 120 people. Investigators are still working to establish its cause.

Boro, a cross between a schnauzer and a water dog, was riding on one of the trains with his owner Ana Garcia Aranda and her pregnant sister at the time of the crash. Both women were injured, with the sister hospitalised in intensive care.

Relatives had pleaded with the public for help finding the dog.

“If I can’t do anything for (my sister), at least I hope I can find Boro,” Ms Garcia Aranda said earlier this week in comments reported in Spanish media.

The police first spotted the dog near the crash site on Jan 21, but he ran off when officers tried to approach him. Firefighters caught him the following morning.

“We knew since yesterday the area where he could be, and today, we were finally able to find him and bring him with us, so he can be returned to his family,” one of the firefighters told reporters.

The dog has since been handed to the owner’s relatives.

“It has been very difficult and very beautiful,” a family spokesperson said. REUTERS