María José Ortega, the senator and mayor of Aguilar de Campoo (Palencia) for the People’s Party, was airlifted to the intensive care unit of Burgos University Hospital on Saturday afternoon after a head-on collision on a provincial road left her in a serious condition. The accident occurred at 14:25 on the PP-2201 near the village of Menaza, moments after Ortega had attended a local festival. She was travelling in a vehicle driven by Jesús Manuel Sevilla, the PP’s councillor for urban planning and a provincial deputy, whose wife and 25-year-old daughter were also on board. The mayor was flown by helicopter to the HUBU, while Sevilla and the young woman were taken by road ambulance to Palencia’s Río Carrión hospital, emergency services confirmed .
The impact was described as frontolateral, leaving both vehicles with significant damage. Emergency crews from 112 Castilla y León reported that the mayor’s condition required immediate stabilisation and transfer to the regional trauma centre in Burgos. Hospital authorities have not released further details on her injuries, citing patient confidentiality. Sevilla, who was at the wheel, and his daughter remain under observation in Palencia, where doctors are monitoring a range of injuries sustained in the crash.
Ortega, 54, has served as mayor of Aguilar de Campoo since 2019 and was elected to the Spanish Senate in 2023. Her political career has been marked by advocacy for rural infrastructure and tourism in northern Palencia. The PP’s regional leadership issued a statement late on Saturday evening calling for “full respect for the presumption of innocence” and praising Ortega’s “long-standing commitment to the people of Aguilar.” The party did not specify whether she would be able to continue in office while recovering.
Local authorities have cordoned off the PP-2201 near the accident site and are conducting a technical investigation into the cause of the collision. Traffic on the route has been diverted via the PP-2202. Neighbouring municipalities have expressed solidarity, with the mayor of nearby Barruelo de Santullán describing Ortega as “a tireless defender of our comarca.”
The accident comes at a sensitive moment for the PP in Castilla y León, where the party is preparing for regional primaries later this year. Ortega’s absence from public life, even temporarily, removes one of the PP’s most visible voices in the northern part of the province. Hospital sources said they would provide further updates on Sunday morning once the medical team had completed its initial assessment.