cova

Dear Lincasanova,

are you OK? I heard this afternoon about the accident in Valencia, and I thought of you ...

Rgds, Cova

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe...ash/index.html

LoveItaly

topping for cova.

That was a terrible accident cova. Guess a lot of people were going to Valencia for the meeting of families with the Pope. So sad!

lincasanova

yes, our entire family is fine. thank you. have not seen a list of victims yet. i hope not to recognize anyone.
many friends called each other this morning making sure we weren't on the train.

to see a vibrant, excited, adrenalised city full of america's cup activities, with all the hustle and bustle getting ready for the Pope, and then suddenly.. deep sorrow invades every corner.

absolutely all activites of any type of jubilance have been cancelled. the town will mourn officially for three days.
this is such a tragedy and so sad.

we have still not been assured of the exact problem causing the crash.

hug your spouse/ partner/ parents/ kids.. and count your blessings.

(finally had to cut and paste to get this post into new window that popped up...!!??)

AnthonyGA

An entire city of 1.6 million virtually stops for 41 deaths? What happens if a real disaster occurs?

I suppose this type of overreaction is a good sign, in a way. If a society considers fatalities amounting to 0.0026% of the population to be a catastrophe, then life must be pretty good most of the time. After all, sub-Saharan Africa loses 7,600 people to malaria each day—about 250 times the fatalities caused by this accident in percentage terms, every 24 hours. That's the equivalent of twenty deaths a day due to malaria alone in Valencia, adjusted for population. Needless to say, people don't wail over train accidents in that part of the world.

hanl

I for one was saddened to hear about this accident. My sympathies to those affected in Valencia and Spain as a whole.

I was also gobsmacked by the rude and insensitive post above.

cova

Anthony, sorry to have disturbed you at all, and Iīd say that if I had Linīs direct email, I would have written directly to her ...

Maybe if you would have read Linīs post, and her previous ones, you would have seen a bit of a different perspective on it. Valencia has been celebrating some of the previous Americaīs Cup races during the last week, they have been getting ready for the Popeīs visit (independently of our own opinions ...) during the last months investing a lot of time, money and illusion ... and then, you get this accident, it is not very clear why it happened, it has taken a long time to identify the corpses ... it was certainly a damper on an otherwise vibrant and interesting city ...

And we in Spain are well aware of the fate of subsaharian people. I donīt know where you live, but everyday we wake up to the news of flimsy boats arriving to the coasts of Andalucia and the Canary Islands full with Africans (and lately, also asian people). If they arrive alive, they are lucky, but there are much more dying and only a minority of the dead bodies arrive to our coasts. Just this morning I heard that there had been found at least 20 corpses from a boat coming into the Canary Islands from the Sahara ... So, yes, we know that our lives are pretty decent in comparison to theirs, but please, allow us to mourn the dead ...

Sorry again to everybody ... I usually try not to rant at some of the answers I see in the different posts, but this time I was only trying to be a little bit nice to a fellow Fodorite ..

Kind regards, Cova

LoveItaly

AnthonyGA, the last bit of respect I had for you is now down the drain. Your post is ugly and disgusting.

Lincasanova, I am glad that your family is well. I send my sympathy to all that have had loved ones that have died or that have been injured in this terrible accident. I can only imagine the sadness in Valencia and all of Spain that has taken place due to this terrible accident. Blessings to all of you.

NorthShore

AnthonyGA - watch your computer. Some insensitive jerk is logging on and posting crazy stuff under your name. They are making you look like a real sleaze ball.

chiarachiara

Although this is not supposed to be a forum for this kind of discussion, I also want to chime in.

I envy people who live in a country where respect is shown for people's lives and a train/metro accident seen as important enough to make a big fuss about it. Living in a country where no respect is shown for people's lives and another violent murder only becomes part of statistics because it happens daily - I wish it could be different.

We were also shocked when we heard about this accident and praying for the families who lost a beloved one.

lincasanova

we thank you all for the condolences.

i certainly don't need to justify why an entire city would stop CELEBRATING with fireworks and music when we have just suffered the 4th worst metro accident in the world.

And i fail to even TRY to imagine what would happen under other conditions of extreme poverty and government corruption.

hopefully that will not reach us ever in that magnitude, and we all do what we can to help acheive a better lifestyle for those underpriveledged worldwide.


back to the crux of the matter. they still do not know exactly what has caused this accident. this WAS one of the oldest trains in circulation.
metro accidents usually never have so many deaths.. more injuries. they say it is an unusual one all the way around. very perplexing.

Viajero2

I am at a loss of words...baffled by AnthonyGA's post trivializing the impact of 41 deaths as they constitute less than 1% of the total city's population. Imagine if we had calculated the impact of 9/11 based on the same math logic.... or the impact of the bombing in Atlanta during the Olympic Games which resulted in the death of one woman. The kicker is judging Valencia's reaction in the context of everyday life in Sub-Sahara Africa....brilliant (YIKES!).

Lincasanova--- my prayers and sympathies are with you and the families that lost loved ones.

carylspall

Our thoughts and prayers are with you lincasanova.

flsd

It's interesting, if not maddening, to see how some folks respond to unfortunate events like this terrible train accident. Prayers for the injured and the families of all affected.

kenderina

I'm glad to know that you and your family are OK , Lin I had an awful day yesterday ..my friend Emilio who lives in Valencia usually doesn't get that line, but he had told me the day before that he was going to do some paperwork he needed and was taking that metro...and so , as communications were bad with Valencia, I was most of the day trying to locate him..and worrying.
Well, he was late for work and decided to leave the paperwork for today and didn't catch the train .

Another story, I have a problem with low pressure and lately is getting really low, I went to my doctor and said it was because the heat and counselled me not to travel now, that's why I could't make it to Valencia this week I hope my pressure gets a bit better and could go anytime soon !!

laclaire

Lin- I heard about this yesterday and was unable to log on until today. Glad to hear everyone is OK on yoru side. I am trying to get in touch with my host dad to ask about my primos, yaya Carmen and the tíos. They are not habitual metro travelers, so I am not particularly worried.

laclaire

I just got the message that everyone, primos, tíos, and la yaya are fine. Everyone is waiting for the lists, though, which is stressful and sad.

Fidel

Lin condolences and prayers, and good wishes to the seriously injured and their families.

And please, AnthonyGA, just slither away quietly.