'Suicidal' girl crashed by train

A 14-YEAR-OLD girl, Brilliance Tshuma, was killed on Monday night when she was hit by a train while running in the middle of the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls railway line between Jafuta Lodge and the Masuwe resettlement area.

Tshuma's grandmother Anna Nhliziyo said she suspected that her granddaughter committed suicide after being disciplined at school.

The grandmother had requested that they counsel her after she was caught in a compromising position with a 16-year-old boy on Sunday. Nhliziyo said she had sought the school's assistance in counselling the girl and they might have misunderstood her and beat up her granddaughter because she was very angry when she came back from school on Monday.

Nhliziyo said Tshuma never said a word to anyone and just changed from her school uniform and disappeared. She said the place where Tshuma was hit and killed by the train was a long way off from home.

National Railways Zimbabwe (NRZ) public relations manager Fanuel Masikati confirmed the death of Tshuma. Masikati said the accident occurred at around 8:15pm.

"The victim was running between the rails and could not look back or move out of the railway line. The train engineer hooted several times and the lights were too bright, but Tshuma kept on running in front of the train," Masikati said.

He said Tshuma died on the spot and her body was sent to Victoria Falls Hospital for a post mortem.

Masikati also added that NRZ was concerned by the rise in the number of suicide cases on railway lines instead of people seeking counselling.