‘Drunk’ man crushed by train while sleeping on railway line

HARARE – A man suspected to have been drunk was crushed by a train in Mount Darwin recently while sleeping on the railways line.

This bizarre incident was revealed Friday by the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) through its Twitter handle.

“A man was killed by a train in Mt Hampden recently while sleeping on the track. It is suspected he was drunk. NRZ encourages people to exercise extreme caution on railway tracks as such accidents seem to be on the increase,” NRZ said.

The train driver is said to have sounded the locomotive whistle and applied emergency brakes but to no avail.

Incidents of people being run over by trains are however not new in Zimbabwe.

October this year, a 17-year-old Ruwa juvenile died on the spot after he was hit by a train while walking along the Harare-Mutare railway line putting on earphones.

The incident happened at the 253 km peg, Ruwa on October 29 2022 at around 07: 55 hours, according to police.

In 2012, a Bulawayo man who was aged 21 was also hit by a train while walking along the Bulawayo-Harare railway line.

“The train hooted but he did not react. He had headphones. The train dragged him for about 200 metres, crushed his head and broke his legs,” said a witness.