Cambridge scientist Marta Shahbazi killed in Spain train crash — The Independent

Forty-one-year-old University of Cambridge researcher Marta Shahbazi was killed in a collision between two high-speed trains near the town of Urda in Spain’s Toledo province. She was travelling to the country’s southwest to receive an award from the Spanish Society for Developmental Biology, The Independent reports.

Embryology researcher

Shahbazi was a specialist in cell biology and embryology and led her own laboratory at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. She was also an associate professor at the University of Cambridge’s Stem Cell Institute.

The scientist earned her doctorate at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre before moving to Cambridge as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2020, she became head of a research group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Her research focused on early human development and gained international recognition in the field of mammalian embryogenesis.

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Circumstances of the crash

The disaster occurred on Wednesday when a Renfe AVE high-speed train crashed into the rear of another train in Toledo province. According to regional authorities in Castile-La Mancha, the stationary Iryo train had 146 passengers and an infant on board, while another 397 people were travelling on the Renfe train.

At least 69 people were killed and more than 100 were injured, with dozens hospitalized in serious condition. The impact derailed several carriages, some of which rolled down an embankment. Spain declared three days of national mourning, while high-speed rail services between Madrid and Andalusia were suspended for the duration of the investigation. Transport authorities are determining why the Renfe train was permitted to travel on this track before the collision.