Two scientists of León origin were travelling in carriage 8 of the AVE involved in the Urda accident. One was Marta Shahbazi Alonso, a 41-year-old researcher who died in the crash. The collision occurred shortly before 9 a.m. on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, near Urda in Toledo province, when one high-speed train struck the rear of another. At least 69 people were killed, ITV News and BBC News reported.
Shahbazi was travelling to the 19 Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Biología del Desarrollo in El Rompido (Huelva). The congress began on the day of the accident, and she was due to receive an award for scientific excellence. The Independent reported that she was travelling to collect the prize. She led a research group at the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and was affiliated with the University of Cambridge’s Stem Cell Institute.
The Centro Singular de Investigación en Medicina Molecular y Enfermedades Crónicas de la Universidad de Santiago confirmed her death on Saturday in a social media statement. The centre expressed support for its researcher María José Alonso, Shahbazi’s aunt, information from Ical. CiMUS described Shahbazi as a brilliant young researcher who led a group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and was an associate professor affiliated with the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute at the University of Cambridge. Before her death was confirmed, the MRC laboratory said it was deeply concerned about her whereabouts and was in close contact with her family, who were working with local authorities in Spain. The laboratory later described her death as a profound shock and a major loss to its research community.
Tamara González Costa, 31, was also travelling in the same carriage to the congress. She was seated in 12B. Her relatives had heard nothing further from her after the crash until her death was confirmed on Saturday. The search by families for missing passengers was covered in an earlier report.
