4.4 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2024
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
A regular morning turned into a day of nightmares for Spanish commuters on 11 March 2004.
In the space of minutes, 10 bombs detonated on trains around Madrid, killing nearly 200 people and injuring more than 1,800.
With a general election three days away, the political fall-out was dramatic.
In 2014, two politicians from opposite sides told Mike Lanchin about that terrible day – and what happened next.
(Photo: The wreckage of a commuter train. Credit: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan |
0:05.2 | I'd really like to tell you a bit about what we do. I'm Julie Mackenzie and I commission comedy |
0:10.1 | podcast at the BBC. It's a bit of a dream job really. Comedy is a bit of a dream job really. |
0:13.0 | Comedy is a fantastic joyous thing to do because really you're making people laugh, |
0:18.0 | making people's days a bit better, helping them process, all manner of things. |
0:22.0 | But you know, I also know that comedy is really |
0:24.3 | subjective and everyone has different tastes. So we've got a huge range of comedy on offer from |
0:29.8 | satire to silly, shocking to soothing, profound to just general pratting about. So if you |
0:36.1 | fancy a laugh, find your next comedy at BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service. |
0:50.0 | It's two decades since bomb attacks on Spanish trains killed more than a |
0:54.4 | hundred and ninety people and injured several hundred more. |
0:58.7 | Blast after blast detonated in the space of minutes, targeting commuters on their way to work. |
1:05.0 | In 2014, two politicians told Mike Luncheon how the fallout from the assault, |
1:11.0 | three days before a general election, spiraled into a political crisis. |
1:17.0 | Madrid March the 11th 2004. |
1:20.0 | Europe in shock, Spain in mourning as multiple bombs strike Madrid's morning rush hour. |
1:25.4 | It's very hard to me to explain what I see in the station, the body of the people burn people crying and terrible. |
1:37.0 | At least 10 bombs have exploded on trains packed with passengers |
1:42.0 | as they approached Madrid's Atotcha station. |
1:44.8 | First 15, then 30, then 60, finally over 170 dead in a day of devastated lives and shock turned to anger. |
1:54.4 | We are shock, I am shock and everybody |
1:57.8 | is ravia, slap a lot about, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.