After fatal rail accident, a missing dog that captivated Spain is found

MADRID — After back-to-back fatal train crashes sent shock waves through Spain, some good news arrived on Thursday: Boro, the missing dog, was found.

Days earlier, Boro's owner Ana García issued a desperate plea to help find him after the dog bolted Sunday in the aftermath of the high-speed train crash in southern Spain that killed at least 43 people. García, 26, and her pregnant sister were traveling with Boro on the train that derailed.

On Thursday, forest firefighters in southern Spain found the black-and-white pooch, writing on X: ''At this time of the morning, we share some good news: Boro, the missing dog, has been found."

García is seen holding Boro, embracing him with one of her legs in a brace in images that the firefighters posted online.

The search for Boro appeared to provide Spaniards something to hope for amid the week's tragedy.

For days, people had rallied online to find him, amplifying García's call and sharing video of her interview. Photos of Boro, a medium-sized black dog with white eyebrows went viral alongside phone numbers for García and her family. Television broadcasters covered the search as did Spanish newspapers.

When the search ended on a positive note, Spaniards celebrated.

García, her sister and the dog had been traveling Sunday by high-speed train from Malaga, their hometown in southern Spain, to the capital Madrid, when the tail of their train car jumped the rails for reasons that remain unclear, and smashed into another train.

The collision killed dozens and injured more than 150 people. Rescue crews helped García and her sister out of the tilted train car. That's when she briefly saw Boro before he ran.

''Please, if you can help, look for the animals,'' a limping García told reporters, choked up and holding back tears. ''We were coming back from a family weekend with the little dog, who's family, too.''

She spoke to the cameras with a blanket draped over her shoulders and her face still visibly bruised from Spain's worst rail accident in more than a decade.

The Associated Press reached one of Garcia's family members by text message on Thursday. ''I can confirm that we have the dog and there's hope," the person wrote, before saying they had to tend to Garcia's sister still in the hospital.

''Many thanks. I promise that I am going to look after him a lot,'' she told reporters in a video posted online. ''Now let's go home, buddy.''

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