Passenger crushed to death after being trapped between train and platform doors

A commuter has been crushed to death after being trapped between a subway train and the screen door on the platform. The 36-year-old was trying to get off the train when he got trapped in the 30cm gap at a station in Seoul. The engineer opened the doors after being told he was caught and waited for 27 seconds. However, he closed the doors and set off again without waiting to see if the passenger had freed himself. The victim, who worked for Korean Air but was named only as Kim, was thrown on to the platform through an emergency exit in the platform screen.

We will come up with measures to prevent this type of accident from recurring and cooperate with police to determine its cause

Na-yeol, acting chief of Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp

The incident happened in the morning rush-hour at Gimpo airport station in the South Korean capital. It has raised fresh questions about the safety of the screen doors which were first introduced in 2004 to prevent suicide attempts or people falling or being pushed on to the tracks. But the death is the third such incident this year and the sixth in total. Three of the victims were passengers, while the others were staff working on repairing faulty doors. Seoul mayor Park Won-soon vowed that the city would come up with safety measures after visiting the scene of the latest accident.

Asia-Pacific