A 13-year-old climbed onto a construction site train at an S-Bahn station in Langenhagen (Hanover region) and was fatally injured by an electric shock of 15,000 volts. He was taken to a hospital with severe burns on his body, the federal police said. At the moment it is unclear why the teenager was on the train.
According to the information, the 13-year-old was traveling with six friends on the platform of the Langenhagen Pferdemarkt S-Bahn station north of Hanover. There he walked over the tracks and climbed onto a parked construction site train. According to the federal police, the young people are between 13 and 15 years old.
He was electrocuted by an electric arc from the overhead line. The federal police emphasized in a statement that the voltage was 65 times stronger than in a standard socket. According to the information, residents reported a bang and a bright glow of light. The other youths took the 13-year-old, who had fallen off the train, to the platform and provided first aid.
The federal police had already warned in the past with a flyer: “Electricity is able to jump over the air and reach the ground via the body in an arc.” The officials also warned of the dangers on the Twitter platform.
The affected train station was temporarily closed, so that rail traffic there was suspended for almost two hours on Monday night. According to the information, emergency chaplains took care of those involved on site.
Further incidents in Osnabrück and Hamburg
Also on Sunday evening, two girls aged 16 climbed onto a parked railway wagon in Osnabrück. A railway employee discovered the two young people and had the overhead line switched off and the section of the route blocked. Police officers later picked them up near the railway site and explained to them the dangers of overhead lines and track systems. Both girls were unharmed.
In Hamburg, a 20-year-old and a 23-year-old climbed onto a catenary mast near the Hamburg-Harburg train station at the weekend. These two were also recognized early and remained unharmed.
