Cambridge Researcher Identified Among 69 Casualties in Deadly Spanish Train Crash

Published on 1 November 2026 – 16:14 GMT+1

A researcher from the University of Cambridge has been identified as one of at least 69 victims of a fatal train crash in Spain that occurred earlier this week.

Marta Shahbazi was traveling to receive a scientific excellence award from the Spanish Society of Developmental Biology when the train she was aboard collided with another service near Urda in the Toledo province on Wednesday.

Shahbazi served as a group leader at the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) and was an affiliated assistant professor at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.

In a statement, the LMB expressed deep sorrow: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic death of our colleague Marta Shahbazi, Group Leader in the Cell Biology Division.”

“Marta was an inspiring, talented and passionate scientist. Her death is a profound shock and a huge loss. Our thoughts are with her family, friends and colleagues at this extremely difficult time,” the statement added.

Her death was also confirmed by the CiMUS research centre in Santiago de Compostela, which described her as a “brilliant young researcher.”

“The CiMUS community would like to express its support and deepest sympathies to our dear PI María José Alonso, following the death of her niece, Marta Shahbazi, in the railway accident that occurred on 28 October,” the centre said on social media.

Shahbazi was set to arrive in El Rompido, Huelva, to collect the 2026 José Luis Gómez‑Skarmeta prize for her “outstanding contributions to the study of the early stages of human development.”

According to the Society of Developmental Biology, her research focused on “understanding how the human embryo organises itself during early development and how cells make decisions that determine their fate,” with laboratory work centred on embryonic implantation.

The collision happened when a high‑speed Renfe service struck a stationary Iryo train just outside Urda, south of Madrid.

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