{"id":1027,"date":"2026-10-30T09:41:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T09:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/?p=1027"},"modified":"2026-10-30T09:41:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T09:41:55","slug":"florida-first-responder-couple-survives-spain-train-crash-that-killed-69-then-leapt-into-action-to-save-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/?p=1027","title":{"rendered":"Florida first-responder couple survives Spain train crash that killed 69 \u2014 then leapt into action to save lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Florida firefighter and his nurse wife survived a high-speed train crash which killed at least 69 people in Spain \u2014 then leapt into action to save lives.<\/p>\n

Josue Garcia-Otero, his wife Diamary Garcia and six other members of their family were involved in the high-speed collision of two trains <\/a>in Urda, near Toledo in central Spain on Wednesday morning, according to Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to safety first, then began treating other patients that were critically injured,\u201d Garcia-Otero said in a statement provided by the department.<\/p>\n

\n\"Jacksonville
Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department Firefighter Josue Garcia-Otero poses with a loved one. Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy wife is a nurse, and she was helping too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia-Otero has been with the department for four years and is assigned to its Critical Care Team, which is made up of highly trained paramedics.<\/p>\n

\u201cJosue had every reason to focus on his own family and nothing more,\u201d Jacksonville Fire Chief Percy Golden II said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, once they were safe, he and his wife went to work. That just goes to show the caliber of first responders they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said that Garcia-Otero had featured in its Hispanic Heritage Month series.<\/p>\n

\n\"Emergency
Emergency services work at the scene of a train collision in Urda, Spain, Oct. 28, 2026. AP Photo\/Manu Fernandez<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIn that feature, he said the month is a time to honor the values his grandparents passed down, \u2018especially caring for others,’\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Wednesday, he and his wife put those values into practice thousands of miles from home.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear which of the two trains involved in the horror crash Garcia-Otero and his family were on.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the disaster happened after several trains stopped due to a signal failure.<\/p>\n

A state-run Renfe train was then authorized to proceed at normal speed, even though there was a stationary Iryo-operated train ahead, Puente said.<\/p>\n

Rescuers picked through mangled cars on Thursday searching for victims in what was Spain\u2019s second fatal high-speed train crash this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After cranes had worked through the night on Wednesday, emergency workers were seen carrying what appeared to be a body wrapped in a blanket from one of the trains.<\/p>\n

Regional leader Emiliano Garcia-Page said the death toll had risen to 69 people after human remains had been found during overnight rescue efforts.<\/p>\n

In addition to those who died, dozens were injured and 57 remained in the hospital, authorities said Thursday.<\/p>\n

With Post wires<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See more of our coverage in your search results. A Florida firefighter and his nurse wife survived a high-speed train crash which killed at least 69 people in Spain \u2014 then leapt into action to save lives. Josue Garcia-Otero, his wife Diamary Garcia and six other members of their family were involved in the high-speed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}