Colombia’s vice consul in Barcelona Ramon Jaller confirmed Thursday that two Colombians were among the twelve people killed when a Spanish train hit a group of people crossing the train tracks in the beach town of Castelldefel, close to Barcelona, on Wednesday night.
Colombian nationals John Mauricio Osorio, who was 33 years old, and 37-year-old Jorge Eliecer Serrano, were killed in the Iberian nation’s second most serious railway accident in recent history. Their families have been informed.
Osirio had reportedly been living in Spain with his wife and two daughters for three years and worked for supermarket chain Carrefour. Serrano was single and had been living in Spain for two years. Both men were from Colombia’s central Tolima department.
According to witness reports, the tragedy occurred when a large group of mainly Latin American youths exited a commuter train in Castelldefel and, instead of using the pedestrian underpass, decided to jump down onto the rail lines and walk over the tracks to save time. An express train traveling at 139 kilometers per hour which doesn’t stop at that station caught the group off guard and slammed directly into them.