It’s one of the stories from the Cordoba train disaster that has captured the hearts of the nation.
A six-year-old girl miraculously survives one of the worst collisions in recent history and is found wandering the tracks after leaving the wreckage on her own.
Tragically, her parents, brother and cousin who were travelling with her after enjoying a weekend in Madrid all died.
The Guardia Civil officer who first came across the girl has now spoken out about her courage.
Named only as Maria, she appeared on the Ana Rosa programme on Tuesday.
The young officer, who was off duty that day, saw the girl walking alone on the tracks.
She accompanied the youngster until she was reunited with her grandparents and uncle, who took her to the nearest hospital to treat her injuries.
‘They told me to accompany her, and I didn’t hesitate. The girl was freezing, and the first thing was to warm her up and get her talking so we could identify her,’ the officer explained.
‘It turned out that when she told me who she was, I knew someone close to her, and we were able to contact her family immediately.
‘I spent a lot of time with her and never left her side. She was in an official car with the heater on for many hours because she was so cold.’
‘Once she got off the train, she didn’t see anything else,’ the officer added.
Maria explained that she didn’t want to ask the little girl how she had managed to get off the train.
‘I didn’t want to ask her too much because, as soon as we asked her, she would talk about her parents, and I didn’t want that because we knew where they were,’ she said.
‘The girl talked a lot; she wasn’t aware of what was happening, and I have never met such a brave child, who took off her coat and shoes to get off the train because she was trapped.’
