A young train driver killed in the Cordoba tragedy had just 10 minutes left of his shift, it has emerged.
Pablo B, 28, was driving the doomed Renfe Alvia train when it collided with the derailed Iryo carriages in Adamuz on Sunday night.
The budding photographer, from Alocorcon, Madrid, was thrown out of the train and died instantly.
The driver was working the Renfe line between Madrid and Huelva, which involves a handover in Cordoba.
It means that on that fateful night, his shift was about to end as he had around 10 minutes left before getting off the train at Cordoba when the fatal crash happened.
His colleagues said that despite his youth, he had a ‘very good reputation’ as a train driver.
It comes after experts said that there would have only been 20 seconds between the first derailment and the arrival of the second train, meaning the impact inevitable.
When the emergency teams reached the area, they found his lifeless body near the train, which had been completely destroyed.
Pablo was a computer engineer from the Carlos III University of Madrid, and he had worked at Adif’s simulation and driving centre before joining Renfe.
In his personal life, he had a deep passion for photography since childhood and enjoyed shooting nature and urban landscapes.
His mother, a retired teacher, was reportedly on holiday in Egypt when the tragedy occurred.
The Alcorcon City Council officially conveyed its condolences to the family and declared three days of official mourning.
‘Flags will fly at half-mast and we are suspending all public events,’ announced Mayor Candelaria Testa.
