On Thursday this week at around 3:30 P.M., a rail employee in Nagoya City was struck and injured… by the body of a suicidal customer.
Hold on, let’s rewind a bit.
This somewhat gruesome story starts like so many stories of its kind in Japan: with a desperate soul leaping in front of a train. Just about anyone who has spent even a few days in Japan and used any part of its expansive rail network ridden will have met with delays as a result of suicides. Of course, the loss of life is nothing compared to a few minutes of waiting for a train, but the incidents have become so common that the families of jumpers are often forced to pay for part of the clean up operation and compensate any additional parties who become entangled in the incident.
This time, the now deceased party took a jump onto the tracks at Hatta Station in Nakamura-cho in Nagoya City.
The 59-year-old conductor of the train spotted a 20-something man running towards the tracks and hit the emergency brakes. Sadly, the express train was going around 108 kilometers (67 miles) per hour, and so it was impossible to stop in time.
The jumper’s body hit the train. And this is where the incident gets even more horrific.
The young man’s body burst through the coupling door at the front of the car (similar to the door in the train pictured above), flew into the cabin, and slammed into a 62-year-old instructor’s leg.
The jumper was taken to the hospital, but did not survive. Fortunately, none of the passengers or other employees were injured.
The Internet had this to say:
This is just too horrifying!
There are too many of these incidents!
Wanna bet this was related to the sudden stock price drops?
What a way to go.
I bet the train crew is gonna end up mentally scarred…
Our condolences go out to everyone involved.
If you or someone you know is in Japan and suffering from depression, there are people who can help. Click here for more info.
Source: 2chan, Goo News, Yahoo! Japan News