National
I heard a phone ring five times, and then the train exploded
By h.b.
Apr 19, 2007 - 8:48 AM

‘I heard a phone ring four or five times, and then the train exploded’ – The dramatic statements from witnesses in the Madrid Train Bombings case continued in the National Court in Madrid yesterday.

José Luis García Sanroma was injured in the blast and told the court he was only saved because two large people were sat directly in front of him when the train exploded and he was thrown into the roof.

The main interest in yesterday’s statements came from top Police chief Santiago Cuadro. The court had earlier heard from fellow police chief Pedro Díaz-Pintado who has said he had been told by Cuadro that the explosive used was Titadine, the one usually used by ETA.

But yesterday Santiago Cuadro told the court that he never said that it was Titadine, but that he had said it was dynamite. He had been told that by the TEDEX explosives experts.

Cuadro continued that knowing the type of explosives used was fundamental to the investigation, but until there was an official technical report all lines of investigation remained open.

Meanwhile the three ETA activists, Henry Parot, Gorka Vidal and Irkus Vadillo, will appear as witnesses in the court on Monday. They appear at the request of the defence lawyers acting for two of the accused.

They were found by police on Feb 29th 2004 when driving towards to Madrid in a van containing 512 kilos of explosives, a crime for which they have recently been imprisoned.