Man Gets Crushed To Death By 2 Trains After Falling Through Platform Gap: Report

A 59-year-old British man was crushed to death by two trains over a year ago after he fell through a gap between a London subway station's platform and a train carriage, authorities announced Tuesday.

The man — identified as Jama Mohamed Warsame by The Independent — was on his way home when he alighted from a Bakerloo line carriage at London Underground's Waterloo Station and fell into a "large gap" between the station's platform and the train at around 10:10 a.m. on May 26, 2020, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said in a report.

"A large gap existed between the train and the platform because of the track curvature at the location of the passenger’s fall," the watchdog's investigators said.

Warsame was unable to free himself, which resulted in him being crushed by the train as it departed, according to the report. He was allegedly "motionless on the track" as a second train that entered the station hit him.

The incident occurred when there were no staff or other people nearby to assist Warsame, investigators said.

There had been a "stay at home" order on that day due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Independent reported, citing data from the Department for Transport.

A passenger who arrived on the platform allegedly told the train driver there was smoke coming from beneath the carriage and emergency services were called in, but Warsame was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem found that Warsame had 360mg alcohol concentration in 100ml of blood, which is four times the legal drink driving limit, a report by news outlet My London said.

The train operators were unable to see Warsame since "with only his head and arm above platform level, the passenger was difficult to detect on the [dispatch] monitors," RAIB said. Additionally, the operator of the following train "was focused on the platform and the train's stopping point," according to the agency.

RAIB's investigation found that London Underground was unable to assess all the dangers at stations with gaps between trains and platforms, as per The Independent. The metro operator was also unable to identify or provide a detailed assessment of all factors, such as curved platforms, that contributed to risks of accidents at certain stations.

London Underground was reportedly recommended to better identify location-specific risks, so accidents can be better mitigated, improve the modelling it uses to calculate risks so the data takes more possibilities into account, and to take action on learning from previous investigations around fatal and non-fatal accidents.