8-Year-Old Boy Dies After Man Pushes Him And His Mother Onto Train Tracks In Germany

An eight-year-old boy died instantly after a 40-year-old man of African origin pushed him and his mother in front of a high-speed train at Frankfurt’s main railway station Monday.

The mother was able to roll to safety in a gap between two platforms and is currently being treated for shock after her son was unable to get away, The Guardian reported.

The 40-year-old man, who police suspect is a citizen of Eritrea, intended to push a third person onto the tracks, “but she was able to defend herself,” police spokeswoman Isabell Neumann told reporters.

There appears to be no connection between the victims and the suspect, Neumann said.

Several people who witnessed the death needed medical treatment afterward, and a conductor, who saw the incident from a train, shouted as the boy was shoved and killed, the digital German publication Hessenschau.de reported.

A witness told the publication that the station was “full of children,” and another witness, who was on the train when the incident took place, said “people collapsed howling.”

“The man concerned … fled the station after the crime. Passers-by took up the chase and the man was detained near the station,” Neumann added.

The incident comes following the death of a 34-year-old woman, who was pushed onto train tracks by a 28-year-old man of Kosovo Serb origin in Voerde, Germany, on July 21.