The five hours at the Puebla funeral home amidst the tears of Diogo Jota and André Silva's families: "I still can't believe it, it's very difficult."

It's 9:30 p.m. and Diogo José Teixeira da Silva's parents, Diogo Jota , and André Silva, are leaving the funeral home in Puebla de Sanabria. The mother is in tears, while the father grievously endures the tragedy that shook his family less than 24 hours ago. Along with them are the hearses of two young men, just 28 and 26 years old, who played soccer. Also accompanying the procession is Jota's agent, Jorge Mendes , the only one who offers a few words to the media present. "I still can't believe it. This is very, very difficult," he declares, before breaking down in tears as he gets into his vehicle.

It had been a difficult afternoon in this small town in Zamora, with just 1,100 inhabitants. From the funeral home, located at the foot of the medieval orchards, wails could be heard breaking the silence when a relative of the deceased came out to talk on the phone or smoke a cigarette. For around five hours, they held a wake for the two young men, while the bureaucracy continued its slow course to repatriate the two footballers, who died in a terrible accident at kilometer 63.300 of the A-52.

Several cars with Portuguese license plates are piled up in the small dirt parking lot behind the funeral home. They belonged to family members who came to mourn the tragedy. "We're waiting for the repatriation permit; we still don't know where the boys' funeral will be," one of the Portuguese funeral home workers told EL MUNDO, although it is already known that it will be held in Gondomar, the town where they grew up.

The investigation was being handled by the Puebla de Sanabria Court of First Instance, headed by Elena Rubio González . At the door of the courthouse, as a funeral home employee left with the death certificates, several women were standing in awe of what had happened. One of them explained that she was a fan of Atlético de Madrid, the club Diogo Jota belonged to for two years, although he never made his official debut. "It's a shame these kids came here to die," she lamented.

It was an unfortunate accident that is being investigated by the Civil Guard's Traffic Brigade, but it will take time because "the burned surface has eliminated many of the clues that could indicate the cause of the accident," according to the Armed Forces. The tragic event occurred at kilometer 63.300 of the road that connects Pontevedra and Benavente, heading towards the town of Zamora.

By early afternoon, the wreckage of the accident still remained. The sudden braking in the right lane, a 50-meter-long road marker, foreshadowed the tragedy some 100 meters later. At that point on the median strip, the remains of the Lamborghini Huracán remained scattered in a ring of burned ground. A detached fender from the car, which had survived the flames, was the only remnant, indicating the fluorescent green color of a car that had been reduced to ashes, according to the Civil Guard. "Very frustrating," said a member of the local emergency services regarding the assistance they were unable to provide to the deceased.

The remains of the two young men were transferred hours after the accident, after their deaths were confirmed, to the Forensic Anatomical Institute of Zamora for identification and postmortem analysis. Their condition required DNA testing to confirm their identities, although the vehicle's license plate and personal belongings salvaged from the flames already indicated the victims' identities.

While the world mourned the tragic loss of the Liverpool footballer and his brother, a player for Pennafiel in the Portuguese Second Division, their families waited impatiently for permission from the Government Delegation in Valladolid to repatriate the young men's remains, which would arrive late that afternoon.

A frustrated journey

Diogo Jota and his brother were heading back to England via ferry from Santander, according to Portuguese press reports. The Liverpool player had attended the wedding of his national teammate José Sa and Raquel Jacob , as well as the wedding of another friend in northern Portugal. Before leaving for the ferry, he had lunch with his wife, Rute Cardoso , and their three children, ages five and two, and a baby, in Leça de Palmeira, near the Portuguese beach of Matosinhos.

The plan was to stop in Benavente for the night and then head to the Cantabrian town to catch the ferry that would take them to England and then drive directly to Liverpool. Jota , who had recently undergone lung surgery, had been advised by doctors against flying due to cabin pressurization issues. In the end, tragedy struck him and his brother on a road in unpopulated Spain.