Malaga infant was killed by train, police say

THE three-year-old girl found dead near Pizarra, Malaga, last Thursday is thought to have been killed by a train.

A Guardia Civil statement has revealed that investigators believe that Lucia Vivar became lost while playing with her cousins, leading her to wander four kilometres down the local train line before falling asleep.

She was then hit on the head by the first train the following morning, causing her to die instantly.

Lucia’s parents were sitting with her grandparents and other members of the family on the terrace of a bar named La Estacion, so named because it is next door to Pizarra train station.

She was playing with her cousins in the street but her parents noticed she was missing just before 11.30pm on Wednesday, sparking a 600-person search during which only her dummy was found near a vending machine.

Shortly after 7am the next day, police were informed that her body had been found by the driver of the early morning service linking Malaga City with Alora after he spotted an object on the line.

The train was returning to Malaga at the time, and the most likely scenario is that it hit the infant on the outward leg of the round trip.

According to investigators, two police sniffer dogs brought from Sevilla overnight had already located her trail when the call came in.

A post mortem examination confirmed that Lucia died from a single blow to the head “compatible with the hypothesis that she was hit by a train” and detectives said the death is being treated as accidental.

Pizarra council announced three days of mourning in the wake of the tragedy.