2008 Woodie Awards
Madrid mourns loss of civilians in terror attack
Stacey Caswell
Issue date: 4/8/04 Section: Features
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A promising spring break in Spain quickly turned to a trip of terror via my arrival to Madrid on March 11.
There, during the morning rush hour, Al-Qaeda operatives exploded several commuter trains in southern Madrid, killing over 200 and wounding 1800 in the worst terrorist massacre in Europe since the 1988 Pan Am disaster, which killed 270 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
I first learned of the explosions in Switzerland while preparing to board my plane en route to Madrid. Everyone was hunched in their seats, gathered around a television at the departure gate, squinting to see what had happened.
The "Breaking News" sign flashing across the screen first caught my attention, but it wasn't until after I recognized the Atocha station in Madrid, with train parts and bodies strewn across it's tracks, that I became one of the horrified spectators.
Madrid attacked? My Madrid, the safe haven I had grown to love and call my home just a year ago, ripped apart by bombs? It was unbelievable.
Together, the passengers and I peered into the television screen, hoping that our loved ones had not been on any of the trains.
After becoming aware of the situation, the only thought in my mind was getting in contact with my friends. I was going to be staying with my Spanish friend, Jara, who I had met while studying abroad the year before.
Since it is not a common custom in Spain to visit each other's houses, I didn't know where she lived in relation to the rest of the city. I silently said a prayer that she and Gema, another Spanish friend, did not have to take the train to pick me up at the airport.
I raced to the phone and tried anxiously to contact them, without success.
I had missed my plane out of New York City due to an eleven-car pile-up the previous day, and had not been able to contact them to let them know about my deferred take-off in New Jersey.
Panicked after finding out about what had occurred in Madrid, I left numerous voice mail messages on each of their home answering machines, hoping that they and our other friends had not been harmed.
There, during the morning rush hour, Al-Qaeda operatives exploded several commuter trains in southern Madrid, killing over 200 and wounding 1800 in the worst terrorist massacre in Europe since the 1988 Pan Am disaster, which killed 270 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
I first learned of the explosions in Switzerland while preparing to board my plane en route to Madrid. Everyone was hunched in their seats, gathered around a television at the departure gate, squinting to see what had happened.
The "Breaking News" sign flashing across the screen first caught my attention, but it wasn't until after I recognized the Atocha station in Madrid, with train parts and bodies strewn across it's tracks, that I became one of the horrified spectators.
Madrid attacked? My Madrid, the safe haven I had grown to love and call my home just a year ago, ripped apart by bombs? It was unbelievable.
Together, the passengers and I peered into the television screen, hoping that our loved ones had not been on any of the trains.
After becoming aware of the situation, the only thought in my mind was getting in contact with my friends. I was going to be staying with my Spanish friend, Jara, who I had met while studying abroad the year before.
Since it is not a common custom in Spain to visit each other's houses, I didn't know where she lived in relation to the rest of the city. I silently said a prayer that she and Gema, another Spanish friend, did not have to take the train to pick me up at the airport.
I raced to the phone and tried anxiously to contact them, without success.
I had missed my plane out of New York City due to an eleven-car pile-up the previous day, and had not been able to contact them to let them know about my deferred take-off in New Jersey.
Panicked after finding out about what had occurred in Madrid, I left numerous voice mail messages on each of their home answering machines, hoping that they and our other friends had not been harmed.