Uncertainly, fear and grief filled the waiting room in the General Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón today where hundreds gathered to await information about loved ones still missing after today´s atrocity which left at least 186 dead more than 1,000 injured, writes Aoife O'Reilly in Madrid.
A sense of helplessness is mixed with anger at ETA, the Basque terrorist group which is being blamed by most for the carnage in the Spanish capital.
This afternoon the arrival of Queen Sofía, Crown Prince Felipe and his fiancee, Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, at the hospital was greeted by an outburst from a woman in the crowd calling for the death of ETA.
Earlier, a visit by the Spanish Health Minister Ms Ana Pastor was also greeted with cries of " ETA, Son of bitches, kill them all" and "the police must kill them".
"People are angry and devasted" a by-stander told reporters, and this is being directed at ETA.
Meanwhile, hospital staff are labouring to deal with the volume of people looking for information.
"The main problem at the moment is identifying victims and helping families find their loved ones," said psychologist Ms Olalla Roblez part of the team at Gregorio Marañón helping relatives establish where family members are being treated.
A list of those injured, along with the hospital where they are being treated, is being updated every 20 minutes, Roblez said, and hospital staff are working hard to gather the names of those missing but many people still await news.
The majority of victims of the bomb explosions at the Metro stations of Atocha, El Pozo and Santa Eugenia are being treated at the hospitals of Gregorio Marañón and Doce de Octubre, with smaller hospitals around the city dealing with the overflow.
Though Roblez could not confirm the nationalities of those injured, she said many of the victims names are Arabic, Eastern European and Central American, saying they were probably travelling to the city to work when the bombs exploded during rush hour this morning.
Doctors, nurses, medical students and hospital staff drafted in from greater Madrid area are set to work through the night to treat the wounded. "Every injury is being dealt with, from minor cuts to brain surgery," said Roblez.
The response to an urgent call appeal for blood was such that the Council of Health of the Community of Madrid has asked the people of Madrid to stop donating blood. Nonetheless, people still continue to travel in their droves to the main donation centres, all wanting to help in some way to overcome the biggest atrocity the city has ever seen.