The passage to El Bocal collapsed because the hardware was corrosive, according to the expert

According to a report by the judicial expert, the passage on the Santanderino coast was reduced by corrosion of structural hardware. The accident, which occurred on 3 March, resulted in the death of six young people.

The supporting hardware of the secondary and primary beams show obvious signs of corrosion , as far as the passage was "not to be overlooked" under or on the side, says the expert in the report requested by the magistrate on 24 March. 

The expert concludes that the main cause of the descent of the passage was the failure of the bond of support of the secondary beams over the primary beams, because the hardware "had lost a portion of its support due to corrosion". 

He explained that the failure of a bonding increases the load on the rest of the bonding, and eventually causes the chained error of all connections between the secondary beams and the primary beams, resulting in the collapse of the board. 

Although it is difficult to deduce which stirrups failed first, the most likely hypothesis is that it was a piece of support on the southern beam. 

He explained that the stirrups were so damaged that a piece of hardware was picked up from the ground and broken into his hands.

There was no inspection. 

The expert further concludes that "there is no evidencethat there has been a maintenance plan for the structure, that the maintenance carried out was insufficient and that the inspection work was irresponsible, if any ".

The repair ofthe Coastal Demarcation in July 2024 focused on the railings, but no action was taken on the wooden structure, hardware and screws of the structural joints.

"In short, the work was carried out to avoid the risk of falling off the side of the passage, but no work was done to ensure the structural safety of the passage," he said.

He also believes that the original 2012 project was not followed, and that instead of rakes being made in a single piece ten meters long, each element was divided into two central pieces of that length, i.e. two five-meter pieces.

In his opinion, if it had been carried out as stated in the first draft, "the breakup would have been a little slower, not so rude."

Six young people between the ages of 19 and 22, three from the Basque Country, one from Cantabria, one from Guadalajara and one from Almería, died as a result of the breaking of the passage, and another girl from Álava, all of her classmates, was hospitalized.