After a week marked by grief following two deadly train crashes, Spain received a rare moment of relief on Thursday: Boro, the dog who went missing after last Sunday’s tragedy, was found.
The animal disappeared on Sunday in the chaotic aftermath of a high-speed rail collision in Andalusia that has now claimed 45 lives (see update below).
The dog’s owner, 26-year-old Ana García, had issued an emotional public appeal days earlier after Boro fled the scene. García and her pregnant sister, who is in hospital, had been travelling with the dog when their train derailed.
Forest firefighters located the black-and-white dog on Thursday. Images shared online showed García — one leg in a brace — hugging Boro, before she later spoke to journalists from inside a car.
‘Many thanks to all of Spain and everyone who has got involved so much,’ she said. ‘It gave me great hope and we’ve done it.’
The search for Boro became a rare focal point of hope for Spaniards during a week dominated by tragedy — and, ultimately, something to celebrate.
For days, support poured in online as people shared García’s plea, including footage from a local television interview. Photos of Boro — a medium-sized black dog with distinctive white eyebrows — spread widely on social media, alongside contact numbers for García and her relatives. Spanish television channels and newspapers followed the search closely.
García, her sister and Boro had been travelling from their hometown of Málaga to Madrid on Sunday when the rear of their high-speed Iryo train left the tracks for reasons still unknown and collided with an Alvia (RENFE) train.
Emergency crews helped the sisters out of the tilted carriage. García briefly spotted Boro before he ran off. Speaking to reporters soon after — wrapped in a blanket, her cheek bandaged — she appealed publicly for help following Spain’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade.
‘Please, if you can help, look for the animals,’ a limping García said at the time, fighting back tears. ‘We were coming back from a family weekend with the little dog, who’s family, too.’
On Thursday, a bruise remained beneath her eye, but with Boro safely beside her, García was smiling.
‘Now we have him and we have him for all our life,’ she told reporters. ‘Now let’s go home, buddy.’
Death toll rises to 45
Investigators recovered two more bodies on Thursday from the wreckage of one of the high-speed trains involved in last weekend’s collision in the southern province of Córdoba, raising the confirmed death toll to 45.
An Andalusia emergency services spokesman told Spanish media that the bodies were found in the Alvia train, which struck the Iryo train after three carriages from the latter derailed and crossed onto the opposite track.
‘In theory, they are the two people’ still unaccounted for among the 45 reported missing after the disaster, the spokesman said. More than 120 people were injured in the collision. ALSO READ: At least 40 dead, dozens injured, after high-speed trains collide in southern Spain.
Authorities said all of the victims were Spanish nationals except for three women from Morocco, Russia and Germany, according to the latest update from those responsible for coordinating the identification process. ALSO READ: Sánchez vows ‘to get to the truth’ about cause of train tragedy, as Spain declares three days of mourning.
Spain is continuing to search for answers to what the transport minister has described as an ‘extremely strange’ accident, which occurred on a recently modernised section of straight, flat track and involved a modern Iryo high-speed train. ALSO READ: Train crash probe points to possible damaged track, amid uncertainty over cause or consequence.
ALSO READ: RENFE president: human error ‘practically ruled out’ as cause of high-speed train collision in Andalusia.
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🔴 DIRECTO | Boro, el perro perdido tras el accidente en Adamuz, ha sido encontrado y se ha reencontrado con Ana, su dueña
— EL PAÍS (@el_pais) January 22, 2026
📸 Nacho Sánchez https://t.co/fsRaDDpeAn pic.twitter.com/K4PexLNh0e
Estamos muy emocionados y contentos con este final feliz. ¡Boro está con su familia! pic.twitter.com/Np0xpwyYC5
— PACMA (@PartidoPACMA) January 22, 2026
💚¡BORO RESCATADO!
👉Los agentes del INFOCA han rescatado finalmente a Boro. ¡GRACIAS!
💚Después de tres días interminables tras el accidente en Adamuz (Córdoba), Boro volverá a estar con su familia.
🙏Desde PACMA queremos dar las gracias a todos los voluntarios y efectivos… pic.twitter.com/pkoVUvDwzL
— PACMA (@PartidoPACMA) January 22, 2026
💚¡BORO RESCATADO!
👉Los agentes del INFOCA han rescatado finalmente a Boro. ¡GRACIAS!
💚Después de tres días interminables tras el accidente en Adamuz (Córdoba), Boro volverá a estar con su familia.
🙏Desde PACMA queremos dar las gracias a todos los voluntarios y efectivos… pic.twitter.com/pkoVUvDwzL
— PACMA (@PartidoPACMA) January 22, 2026
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