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

MADRID (AP) — After back-to-back fatal train crashes sent shock waves through Spain, some good news arrived 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. Garcia spoke to 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.

On Thursday, forest firefighters in southern Spain announced that they had found and returned the black-and-white pooch: “At this time of the morning, we share some good news: Boro, the missing dog, has been found,” they wrote on X.

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 the medium-sized black dog with white eyebrows went viral alongside phone numbers for García and her family.

Spaniards celebrated his discovery as a glimmer of hope.

“A picture of hope in Adamuz. Boro is returning home to his family,” one user on X wrote. Others shared photos of García embracing the dog.

García, 26, and her pregnant sister had been traveling on Sunday with Boro 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 bolted.

“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.”

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.

Teresa Medrano contributed.