UNEXPECTED HEROES – The other side of 11-M
Author: Fernando Benzo Sáinz
Availability: Online and Physical
Matter: Research
Year: 2004
That Thursday the day began as every day for Martín, the sworn vigilante of the Station of Atocha until the first explosion on one of the trains occurred. Without hesitation, he went to the platform for a moment to try to help in any way he could. Victor, a Moldovan doctor, was traveling on one of the trains and remained after the explosion providing first aid to the injured.
Ricardo, with the explosion, was lifted from his bed, peered out of his window on Téllez Street and five minutes later he stood in front of the train with one idea: saving lives. María Ángeles, one of the first SAMUR nurses to arrive in Santa Eugenia after the attacks, was stunned to check the condition of the station. That did not resemble any event in which she had intervened before, but anger and pain gave her more energy. The next day, she couldn't remember how many people she attended, but the frenetic pace she did. Their stories are just one example of the experiences of hundreds of people who on March 11th offered the best of themselves to the victims of the attacks.
Fernando Benzo Sáinz, director of the Foundation of Victims of Terrorism, collects in this intense and sober human chronicle the story of anonymous citizens, sworn vigilantes, firefighters, nurses and policemen who, like Martin, Víctor, Ricardo or María Ángeles, worked without being overcome by the tiredness and horror of that March 11th morning, becoming unexpected heroes.
A testimony that reconciles us with the human condition and that will undoubtedly endure in the reader's memory as an example of everything that man is able to achieve when confronted with adversity.
Availability: Online and Physical
Matter: Research
Year: 2004
That Thursday the day began as every day for Martín, the sworn vigilante of the Station of Atocha until the first explosion on one of the trains occurred. Without hesitation, he went to the platform for a moment to try to help in any way he could. Victor, a Moldovan doctor, was traveling on one of the trains and remained after the explosion providing first aid to the injured.
Ricardo, with the explosion, was lifted from his bed, peered out of his window on Téllez Street and five minutes later he stood in front of the train with one idea: saving lives. María Ángeles, one of the first SAMUR nurses to arrive in Santa Eugenia after the attacks, was stunned to check the condition of the station. That did not resemble any event in which she had intervened before, but anger and pain gave her more energy. The next day, she couldn't remember how many people she attended, but the frenetic pace she did. Their stories are just one example of the experiences of hundreds of people who on March 11th offered the best of themselves to the victims of the attacks.
Fernando Benzo Sáinz, director of the Foundation of Victims of Terrorism, collects in this intense and sober human chronicle the story of anonymous citizens, sworn vigilantes, firefighters, nurses and policemen who, like Martin, Víctor, Ricardo or María Ángeles, worked without being overcome by the tiredness and horror of that March 11th morning, becoming unexpected heroes.
A testimony that reconciles us with the human condition and that will undoubtedly endure in the reader's memory as an example of everything that man is able to achieve when confronted with adversity.