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Man walking on station platform dies after bag strap gets caught on express train

28 Comments

A 35-year-old man walking on the train platform at Nishiarai Station in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward was killed in a freak accident on Wednesday after his bag got caught on the side of a passing train.

According to police and station officials, the incident occurred at around 8 a.m. on the Tobu Isesaki Line. Hiroyuki Kaneda, a company worker, was walking along the edge of the platform when a strap on the bag he was holding with his left hand suddenly got tangled up on the side of an express train that came from behind him, Sankei Shimbun reported. Kaneda was dragged along by the train and hit a concrete pillar on the platform.

Kaneda was taken to a hospital after sustaining a severe head injury but died about two hours later.

Police said Kaneda was neither using earphones nor walking while using a smartphone at the time of the accident.

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28 Comments
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Police said Kaneda was neither using earphones nor walking while using a smartphone at the time of the accident.

Good, nipping potential victim-blaming in the bud before it starts.

19 ( +24 / -5 )

“Ignorance can be cured, but stupidity cannot!”

Glad we managed to get some victim blaming in with only the fourth post - why waste time on sympathy?

12 ( +20 / -8 )

One of the many haphazard platform edgewalkers is taken.

margin for error people!

ALWAYS maintain a margin for error.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

not releasing the bag immediately is another.. 

Who knows what type of bag it was. It could have been a backpack and he had no time to react.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Agree he shouldn’t have been so close to the edge, but we all occasionally have a lapse of concentration and judgement

Yes we do. Every single one of us - in a car, walking on the street, riding a bike...Most of us get away with them but unfortunate people don’t.

Very tragic.

I suppose everyone can get back to telling us how to walk on train platforms now.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

horrible way to die... RIP.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

"Mamonaku densha ga mairimasu, kiiroi sen no uchi gawa made osagiri kudasai" is always announced on the P.A. system a minute or 2 before the train arrives or passes. He must have been preoccupied with something. What a waste of life. Must be the most horrific few seconds of his life.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Perhaps he was not wearing headphones or playing with his phone, but he was obviously walking on the wrong side of the yellow block path, which every station has announcements about. 

8 am. Do you think there were a lot of people or a only few people on the platform?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

RIP.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Weird accident I've never heard..

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Nishiarai Station

A station with platform opening both side, narrower than 2 trains at

around 8 a.m

I really do wonder why someone will be walking on the edge of the platform... He most likely had no other choice than that or staying in the train/ by the staircase.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MTY78mafN1k/maxresdefault.jpg

My condolence to the bereaved.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Yikes! Feels like a scene from a Final Destination movie

1 ( +1 / -0 )

One time while I was sitting on a train as it rolled into a station in Chicago, there was this guy sitting on the edge of the platform right next to our train with his legs dangling over as if it was a swimming pool. Man, the conductor was pissed off and on the PA system saying, "Get that crazy S.O.B. out of there before he loses his legs!" Luckily, the guy narrowly missed losing his legs, but it's amazing how stupid some people can be.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I do not understand why he hung on to the bag?

As Dadude mentions, we don't know what type of bag it was and since it was an express train he might've grabbed the bag harder out of reflex. Either way, tragic freak accident. Another reason to put up barriers at every station.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I can't imagine where on the train his bag could've gotten caught on.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

barriers...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Woof what a way to go.rip

0 ( +0 / -0 )

To several posters here, the announcements say to stand behind the yellow lines/blocks. They say nothing about staying behind them. That's where I walk, and I tell people they're in the way when they stand there. If people were standing on the blocks when this guy was walking, then they may have forced the victim to walk closer to the edge than he would have otherwise.

As to why he didn't release his bag, it is hard to imagine. Maybe some of the straps got tangled up around his arm somehow.

So, everybody, please **stand behind the yellow blocks on the platform** so you're not blocking the way endangering everybody.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I wonder what kind of bag it was?

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Now you know why there are announcements in three languages telling people to stay behind the yellow tile line with the arrival of every train. Even the express trains have the same announcement. If this joker had heeded the warning he would be sitting at home watching TV right now and not dead!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Just like a written description of slapstick (a much more sombre form), a video clip would help. It need not be footage, just computer re-enactment.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Get platform barriers installed already.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I must admit while I feel sympathy for his family and the loss of any life, I do not understand why he hung on to the bag? I first assumed it was some kind of back pack he couldn’t get out of but the article clearly states he was holding it in his left hand so I remain mystified?

Agree he shouldn’t have been so close to the edge, but we all occasionally have a lapse of concentration and judgement, it just doesn’t usually kill us.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

This could be the beginning of a new pattern of Suicides, and one without being blatantly a Suicide.

Train Companies really need to install barriers along the platform edges. So why aren't they ?

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Police said Kaneda was neither using earphones nor walking while using a smartphone at the time of the accident.

Perhaps he was not wearing headphones or playing with his phone, but he was obviously walking on the wrong side of the yellow block path, which every station has announcements about. Maybe there is a good reason for this announcement.

-9 ( +8 / -17 )

Well its quite obvious he wasnt following the rule, got way too close to the drop and chose to ignore the train approaching announcements .. hence he is the only one at fault... not releasing the bag immediately is another.. so nothing to do with victim blaming but he is the one at all fault.. its not like anyone pushed him or train reached out to grab him ....

-12 ( +6 / -18 )

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