Cantabrian Court Expands El Bocal Investigation After New Evidence. New suspects have emerged in the case of the tragedy on the Santander coast. The judge has extended the investigation to include the engineer responsible for the footbridge project after reviewing new documents.
In Cantabria, the judge presiding over the case of six deaths on the El Bocal coastal trail in Santander has decided to widen the circle of suspects. Now under investigation is the engineer who designed the wooden walkways that collapsed during the tragedy. This decision was made after analyzing new internal correspondence and technical documents added to the case file.
According to a resolution published Tuesday by the High Court of Cantabria (TSJC), investigators received additional emails and calculations provided by the project director, José Antonio Osorio, who currently heads the Demarcación de Costas in Cantabria. He is already under investigation as a suspect in the case. The new material indicates that the company Fronda was responsible for the design, manufacture, and installation of the wooden structures, while the engineer who signed off on the specific project bears technical responsibility for the implemented solution.
Key details of the investigation
Internal correspondence among the construction participants, dated May–September 2014, shows that the site manager from Dragados warned the project director that the safety factors in the original design were “significantly below acceptable levels.” In response, Fronda prepared a new calculation which, according to the company, ensured safety without changing the appearance of the walkways. The project director demanded that the calculations be certified by a qualified specialist. Shortly after, he received a dossier with load options, followed by the full project signed by a Fronda engineer. In subsequent correspondence, the company confirmed its responsibility for all stages—from design to installation—working under a direct contract with Dragados.
The judge notes that these documents raise reasonable doubts regarding the correctness of the structural solution. The ruling emphasizes that, for a civil project, it is important that the project was signed by the industrial engineer, who personally participated in developing the 'ad hoc' solution during construction. Meanwhile, the project director remains under investigation: according to the court, he should have overseen safety, identified shortcomings, and adjusted the project if necessary. However, in order not to delay the work, he agreed to the proposed technical scheme and gave his approval. In contrast, the site manager from Dragados, in the court's view, acted correctly—he identified problems in a timely manner, informed management, and did not make decisions without the project director's approval. The engineers who signed the main trail project are not being held liable, as their original version was not altered.
New interrogations and procedural steps
Alongside the expanded investigation, the court has scheduled new dates for interrogations. On May 15, all experts who prepared opinions for the case will testify in court: the court-appointed expert, representatives of the private prosecutors, the Santander city hall, and the defense. On June 5, expert-witness testimony is scheduled for the engineers who developed the main project and the site manager. After that, four technical specialists, including the Fronda engineer and the project director, will be questioned as suspects.
Context and significance of the case
The tragedy at El Bocal has become one of the most high-profile incidents in the region in recent years. Questions about the quality of design and construction oversight remain at the center of the court's attention. In Spain, similar investigations often lead to a review of safety standards at infrastructure sites. For comparison, in other regions of the country, judicial authorities also actively respond to incidents related to violations in construction and operation, as recently discussed in the material about a series of Andorra’s victories in the sports sector— details on the developments in another sector.
