Management and analysis of out-of-hospital health-related responses to simultaneous railway explosions in Madrid, Spain.

Objectives: On 11 March 2004, 10 simultaneous explosions at four different locations of the rail network in Madrid caused 198 deaths and 2312 persons were injured. The aim of this manuscript is to describe the prehospital health-related activities from the Emergency Medical Service of Madrid and to analyze the responses, the major conclusions, and the lessons learned.

Methods: Three meetings were held with professionals from the Emergency Medical Service of Madrid who were involved in the catastrophe.