Description
Description
Enrique García González had been living in Spain for twelve years, but still held firm to his Dominican roots. He was married and had three children aged two, four and six. On the morning of 11 March 2004, he was changing trains at Atocha station when the attack occurred. After hearing the first explosion, he ran towards the train to offer assistance. He was caught by the full blast of the next explosion and died instantly.
11 March 2004 fell on a Thursday. Early that morning, a number of terrorists with links to Al-Qaeda planted thirteen bombs on four suburban trains covering routes running through Madrid. Ten of the bombs exploded between 7.37 and 7.39 am, when the trains were at Atocha, El Pozo and Santa Eugenia stations and alongside Calle Téllez. 191 people were killed in the attack and around 1,500 were wounded. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Spanish history. On 3 April 2004, agents from the Special Operations Group (GEO) were about to enter an apartment in Leganés where the perpetrators of the attacks were believed to be hiding when the terrorists detonated twenty kilograms of explosives in an act of collective suicide. The ensuing blast killed one of the officers, bringing the total number of people killed by the 11 March bombers to 192.