Gumleaf
May 21st, 2008, 07:15 AM
Monday 19th of May 2008 - Herald Sun
IT is Sunday morning and the sight of a young man lying lifeless on the roof of a Connex train shocks Flinders St station's early commuters.
They are streaming onto the station concourse on a day off with only fun in mind.
But a stranger is stretched out on the last carriage.
His right arm is petrified and his fingers are rigid.
Lying face down before firefighters turn him over to gingerly place him in an orange body capsule, the young man has obviously received the full force of about 1500 volts of electricity.
He wears a top, jeans and runners. His face is blackened.
Mums, dads, children, elderly Asian tourists, teenagers and shoppers are drawn to the scene.
The man is a 20-year-old from Werribee.
Police say he was train surfing and was electrocuted.
Security footage filmed him climbing on to the roof of a train at Newport station at 1.10am yesterday.
That train then travelled to Werribee, where it remained for the night, before returning to the city as the 7.26am from Werribee.
It was as it shunted
into platform four about 8.30am that someone saw the man's body.
"He was found under the pantograph, which touches the electrified wires overhead," Connex spokesman John Rees says.
"It is not just the pantograph, but the whole metal structure around that section that becomes electrified during operation."
Fire crews wait for power to be isolated before they retrieve the body before 9.30am.
"It's pretty tragic when a young person like that is killed," MFB operations commander Wayne Garrard says.
An American tourist watches sadly as the body is covered with a black blanket and wheeled out. He has never heard of train surfing.
"We mostly have subways and it's impossible to get on the top of a train," he says.
Police will prepare a report for the State Coroner.
Connex has warned train surfing is extremely dangerous and likely to end in death.
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Reference: Herald Sun
Date: Monday 19th of May 2008
IT is Sunday morning and the sight of a young man lying lifeless on the roof of a Connex train shocks Flinders St station's early commuters.
They are streaming onto the station concourse on a day off with only fun in mind.
But a stranger is stretched out on the last carriage.
His right arm is petrified and his fingers are rigid.
Lying face down before firefighters turn him over to gingerly place him in an orange body capsule, the young man has obviously received the full force of about 1500 volts of electricity.
He wears a top, jeans and runners. His face is blackened.
Mums, dads, children, elderly Asian tourists, teenagers and shoppers are drawn to the scene.
The man is a 20-year-old from Werribee.
Police say he was train surfing and was electrocuted.
Security footage filmed him climbing on to the roof of a train at Newport station at 1.10am yesterday.
That train then travelled to Werribee, where it remained for the night, before returning to the city as the 7.26am from Werribee.
It was as it shunted
into platform four about 8.30am that someone saw the man's body.
"He was found under the pantograph, which touches the electrified wires overhead," Connex spokesman John Rees says.
"It is not just the pantograph, but the whole metal structure around that section that becomes electrified during operation."
Fire crews wait for power to be isolated before they retrieve the body before 9.30am.
"It's pretty tragic when a young person like that is killed," MFB operations commander Wayne Garrard says.
An American tourist watches sadly as the body is covered with a black blanket and wheeled out. He has never heard of train surfing.
"We mostly have subways and it's impossible to get on the top of a train," he says.
Police will prepare a report for the State Coroner.
Connex has warned train surfing is extremely dangerous and likely to end in death.
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Reference: Herald Sun
Date: Monday 19th of May 2008