The provincial Department of Transport is set to form a committee to tackle train surfing after the electrocution of another Durban schoolboy this week.
Metrorail spokeswoman Thandi Mkhize confirmed on Thursday that a 15-year-old pupil from Waterloo township, near Verulam, was killed while train surfing – riding or climbing on the outside or on top of a moving train – at Duffs Road on Wednesday afternoon
“He was trapped in the cables above the train and electrocuted,” she said.
The pupil had been on his way from school.
“The train had to be stopped because his body was trapped between the cables, and the power had to be cut for a while until the body was removed.”
Mkhize said train surfing was a worry for Metrorail and the Transport Department.
“It is very worrying for us, because train surfing is extremely dangerous and deadly. Just last month in uMlazi, a pupil died doing the same thing. We then visited that school and conducted safety campaigns. Pupils there told us that train surfing was also being done at other schools.”
Mkhize urged people to stop risking their lives. - The Mercury