Two Ukrainian citizens killed, three injured in Madrid explosions (03/21/04)

Two Ukrainian citizens killed, three injured in Madrid explosions

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Two Ukrainians perished and three others were injured in the explosions that shook Madrid's train stations on March 12. Some of the Ukrainian victims were illegal immigrants who had traveled to Spain in search of work.

The victims were among the 201 dead and nearly 1,500 injured as a result of 10 separate blasts at three different train stations that shook the Spanish capital city. While police investigators had at first suspected Basque separatists from the terrorist organization ETA, suspicions have now centered on Al Qaeda operatives as prime suspects in the case.

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on March 18 that the dead Ukrainians were a 56-year-old male and a 47-year-old male. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivskyi would not identify the dead individuals.

"We are not naming them at the requests of the families," explained Mr. Lubkivskyi.

He added that the remains of the dead or injured victims had not been returned to Ukraine, as yet, and that the family members of only one victim were in Madrid to identify the body. Mr. Lubkivskyi also did not specify which of the victims were illegally living in Spain and where they resided in Ukraine. He would only say they lived "in Lviv and in the southern regions of Ukraine."

A story in the Kyiv newspaper Ukraina Moloda stated that Ukraine's Embassy in Madrid had said that all survivors of the terrorist attack who were immigrants to Spain would receive Spanish citizenship if they so desired and if they had registered with Spanish authorities. The newspaper also claimed that outgoing Prime Minister José Maria Aznar had promised that all immediate relatives of the dead victims would become eligible for Spanish citizenship.

The three Ukrainian survivors of the terrorist act were women. One was released from a Madrid hospital the day of the attack, after receiving treatment for scrapes and bruises. The two other women, both from western Ukraine and living in Spain as immigrant workers, remain hospitalized. Ukraina Moloda reported that one is recovering from an operation on leg injuries, while the other remains in critical condition with burns to her body and a concussion.

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