Two Cal Poly Students Injured in Spain Train Collision

Cal Poly said two of its students studying abroad were hurt when two high-speed trains collided near Urda, south of Madrid. The university said both were receiving medical treatment and that it was in contact with their families and U.S. Embassy officials in Spain. It has not released the students’ names or details about their conditions.

One of the injured students was identified by her aunt as Leah Silver-Fajardo, a 21-year-old junior from Seattle. A fundraising page set up by her aunt said Silver-Fajardo suffered fractures to her knee, pelvis, femur and several ribs, as well as lung bruising, burns and scrapes. She had undergone knee surgery and was waiting for an operation on her pelvis. She has left intensive care but faces a lengthy hospital stay and rehabilitation.

Silver-Fajardo had been studying in Florence, Italy. Her mother wrote that she was in considerable pain but had begun eating and smiling. The second injured student has not been publicly identified.

At least 69 people died in the collision, including 54 Spanish nationals, four Americans and one Canadian. Search teams continued working through wreckage after the crash, which occurred when one train struck another that had stopped on the tracks. It was the second major high-speed train collision on the Madrid-Seville line this year; a January crash killed 46, and that incident remains under investigation.