Jacksonville, Florida: Firefighter Garcia-Otero Treats Critically Injured Passengers After Surviving Spain Train Crash

A Jacksonville firefighter and his wife, a nurse, survived the high-speed train collision that killed at least 69 people in central Spain on Wednesday, October 28, and then treated critically injured passengers at the scene, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said. Firefighter Josue Garcia-Otero was traveling with his wife, Diamary Garcia, and six other relatives on a family trip following a wedding when the collision happened. The family was safe, officials said.

"We got to safety first, then began treating other patients that were critically injured," Garcia-Otero said in a department news release reported by First Coast News. "My wife is a nurse, and she was helping too."

A critical care paramedic, far from home

Garcia-Otero has served with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department for four years and is assigned to its Critical Care Team, which the department describes as its most highly trained paramedics. The department said it was grateful the family was safe and proud of the couple for helping in the middle of a tragedy. "We look forward to welcoming the Garcia-Otero family home safely," the department said.

Fire Chief Percy Golden II praised the couple in the same release. "Josue had every reason to focus on his own family and nothing more," Golden said. "Instead, once they were safe, he and his wife went to work. That just goes to show the caliber of first responders they are." The department also said that earlier this month, for its Hispanic Heritage Month series, Garcia-Otero shared how his grandparents taught him the importance of caring for others. The couple is now focused on returning home, the department said.

What happened on the line

Just before 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday, a state-owned RENFE train carrying 397 passengers rear-ended a stationary, privately owned IRYO train carrying 147 passengers near Urda, between the towns of Urda and Los Yebenes, and two IRYO cars came off the track, according to the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha. The Florida Times-Union and PEOPLE put the confirmed death toll at at least 69. The regional government had earlier confirmed at least 68 dead and said 58 more people needed hospital treatment, with rescue crews still searching the wreckage on Thursday morning.

Spain's transport minister, Oscar Puente, said a computer malfunction disabled the safety system along a stretch of the line at about 8:30 a.m., halting every train on it, and that a central command center then told the RENFE train to start running again without speed restrictions. Puente called that order inexplicable and said the train drivers were not to blame. Investigators have not published conclusions.

The collision was Spain's second deadly high-speed rail crash this year. In January, an IRYO train derailed in southern Spain and struck an oncoming RENFE train, killing 46 people. Before 2026, the country's dedicated high-speed lines had not recorded a fatal crash since the network opened in 1992. Spain began three days of national mourning on Thursday.

For Jacksonville, the story is a local one. A firefighter who answers calls in this city was riding as a passenger on a family trip thousands of miles away, and when the wreck happened, he and his wife did the work they do at home.