3/11/2004: Terror in Madrid (warning, graphic)

[Undertoad]

IotD isn't really a news site per se but when lurker mundofer suggested I look at some slideshow images, it was obvious that this was more compelling than anything else today. This is Madrid where Basque separatists (it's believed as I write this) were responsible for a major terror attack.



You have a load of explosives and want to do maximum damage. You create several bombs and set them up in the spaces between the trains and set them off at the same time... at the peak of morning rush hour.

Well in this case it sounds like some of the bombs didn't go off, and so this horrendous massacre of terror was actually less than it might have been -- but still unthinkably horrible with, at this point, more than 180 dead.



And many, many more injured, and because IotD isn't the land of graphic for graphic's sake I've not picked out the dead body images for this post. They're easy to find if you follow the slideshow links, but for some reason, I find the shots of the injured to be just as mind-boggling. The uninjured helping the injred - someone just headed to work, obviously...



If they are survivors that is. One recurring theme in the slideshows is the mobile phone. What is he doing in this picture? Is he looking for someone to call? Is he trying to figure out the name of the person? Is he looking to call a family member? Calling emergency services?



Or maybe just checking the exact time life was completely changed. The injured are maybe more compelling than the dead; they still need help, they will live on.

Man's inhumanity to man: sadly, this is the worst of us.