Dr Marta Shahbazi, a 41-year-old scientist at Cambridge's MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), has been confirmed among the dead in the Spanish train collision near Urda, south of Madrid. This is a follow-up to the crash itself, which was covered when it happened on 28 October 2026: Shahbazi had been missing since that morning, and her death was confirmed on Saturday night after days of searching.

Shahbazi led a research group at the LMB and was an affiliate associate professor at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, working on the earliest stages of human development. She had been travelling from Madrid towards Huelva to attend a meeting of the Spanish Society for Developmental Biology in El Rompido, where she was due to receive an award for her work. Her family had searched hospitals and the crash site, and had given DNA samples to help identify the missing, before the confirmation came.

What happened at Urda

The collision happened on the morning of 28 October, when a state-operated Renfe high-speed train ran into the back of a stationary train operated by Iryo on the Madrid-Seville line near Urda, about 87 miles south of Madrid. The Renfe train was carrying 397 passengers and the Iryo train 146, according to regional government figures reported at the time. Latest reports put the death toll at at least 69; earlier counts varied while identification work continued, and the final confirmed figure may still change.

Investigation into the control-room order

Spanish authorities have opened an investigation into the crash, one of Spain's worst rail disasters since 2013. Reports say investigators are examining what happened after a signal failure stopped both trains, and a leaked control-centre recording reported by The Times suggested trains were told to continue at normal speed. That account has not been confirmed as the cause, and the investigation is continuing. Spain observed three days of national mourning after the disaster.