A Cape Town man was electrocuted on a Metrorail train at Nyanga Station on Thursday morning while sitting on the roof of an overcrowded train.
Pictures on Facebook show the man lying face down on top of the train. Metrorail has confirmed the death.
Metrorail Western Cape Regional Manager, Richard Walker, appealed to commuters in a statement not to “put their lives at risk by traveling on top of the train, hanging onto the outside of the train or travelling in front of the drivers”.
“It is dangerous and commuters who do so, risk their life and limb at this tragedy proved.”
The statement said that trains would be delayed by at least an hour as a result of the death.
After Gauteng, the Western Cape had the second highest number of fatalities and injuries. 495 people died on trains in South Africa in the 2016/17 year, and 2 095 injuries, according to the Railway Safety Regulator.
Mayoral Committee Member for Transport and Urban Development, Brett Herron was on the train the man was electrocuted. Herron was taking a train from Khayelitsha to Cape Town to “experience for himself the conditions thousands of rail commuters face on a daily basis”.
I am shocked, pained & angry. I can’t believe what I just witnessed. I was unable to get on the train. People clinging to the roof and hanging on the sides. #TrainStories pic.twitter.com/FoJa6bx5zf
— Brett Herron (@brettherron) November 30, 2017
The City of Cape Town approved a plan presented by Herron last month for the City to take over the train system in Cape Town.
Herron tweeted that he was “horrified & angry at how cruel this is”.
Photography Twitter