Both the students, one from Seattle and the other from Bellingham, attend California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO). Both were aboard a train involved in the crash Wednesday in Spain's Toledo province, south of Madrid.

One of the survivors, 21-year-old Leah Silver-Fajardo, sustained multiple broken bones and other serious injuries. Her family is now in Spain helping her through what is expected to be a lengthy recovery.

Leah Silver-Fajardo suffered a broken knee, broken pelvis, multiple broken ribs, bruised lungs and burns. She has undergone knee surgery and faces additional treatment and rehabilitation.

"I mean, she's alive. She's in a great amount of pain," Hannah Silver-Fajardo, Leah Silver-Fajardo's older sister, said. "We're sort of taking things minute by minute right now. We're trying to find out what this is going to look like moving forward."

For Hannah Silver-Fajardo, the hours immediately following the crash were filled with uncertainty.

"The world kind of just stops for a second and I don't even know how to describe it," Hannah Silver-Fajardo told KING 5 from Spain.

The family spent approximately six hours trying to locate Leah after learning she had been involved in the collision.

"Horrific, not knowing what the next thing was going to look like, what that meant being in a foreign country, not having access to her, just having no idea," Hannah Silver-Fajardo said.

Friends of Leah Silver-Fajardo's who were studying and traveling throughout Europe began searching for her, Hannah Silver-Fajardo explained. They went from hospital to hospital in Toledo and eventually located her.

The Silver-Fajardo sisters grew up in Seattle and graduated from Roosevelt High School. Hannah Silver-Fajardo is completing her final year at New York Law School, while Leah Silver-Fajardo is a junior at Cal Poly SLO, studying psychology.

Leah Silver-Fajardo moved to Florence, Italy, in August for a semester abroad. She celebrated her 21st birthday there Oct. 7, surrounded by family and friends. She was visiting Spain during a break from her studies and taking a day trip to Seville when the crash occurred.