Cambridge scientist Marta Shahbazi among at least 69 dead in Spanish train collision

Dr Marta Shahbazi, a University of Cambridge scientist, was among at least 69 people killed on Wednesday when two trains collided near Urda in Toledo province, south of Madrid, Spain. Shahbazi, a mother of two, was an affiliate associate professor at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and a group leader at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge. She was travelling to a conference in El Rompido, Andalusia, to receive a scientific excellence prize from the Spanish Society of Developmental Biology for her work on early human development. The LMB said her death was a profound shock and a huge loss, calling her an inspiring, talented and passionate scientist whose research shed light on the earliest steps of human embryo development and on how errors lead to failed pregnancies. It said she had written about balancing family and career and described herself as a "mother scientist". Dr Roser Vento-Tormo, a group leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, called her a close collaborator and treasured friend.

The left-leaning Guardian leads with tributes, centring its report on the LMB's LinkedIn statement and on Vento-Tormo's personal remembrance, and it stresses her role as a mother and role model. It gives the toll as at least 69, names her Cambridge Stem Cell Institute affiliation and the Wellcome Sanger colleague, and places the crash in Toledo province. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had. The alternative-side BBC News largely matches the Guardian, using the same LMB statement and award details, though it adds her Shahbazi Laboratory and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, and says the toll was 69. France 24 offers a distinct angle: a week-in-pictures roundup that places the Spanish crash alongside Brazil's election result and Israeli elections, with the article text unavailable.