Elderly woman crushed by train

A SUSPECTED suicidal elderly Macheke woman was crushed to death by a passenger train on Saturday morning despite numerous attempts by the driver to scare her away from the railway line.

The woman who is believed to be in her early 70s reportedly walked towards the moving train, resulting in her being killed.

Mashonaland East acting provincial police spokesperson Inspector Tendai Mwanza yesterday confirmed the incident and said the woman's body was taken to Marondera Provincial Hospital as her relatives were still to be located.

"I confirm that an elderly woman was hit by a passenger train in Macheke at the weekend. The woman is estimated to be around 70 years as she had no identification particulars on her. We are appealing to those who are missing their relative with such a description to approach Macheke Police Station," he said.

According to police, on Saturday morning, Joseph Zela (51) was operating the passenger train on his way to Mutare. On approaching Macheke, he observed a woman walking slowly towards the train.

Zela blew the horn several times to alert the woman, but she kept on walking towards the train.

The engineman tried to stop the train, but failed due to the short distance, resulting in the accident.