Brazil: Passengers attempt to hold plane door shut mid-flight
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
An elderly man died after a metro train dragged him across a platform in Brazil. Passengers on the Rio de Janeiro metro tried frantically to save Jose Alves Simao, 82, as train doors closed around and trapped his hand on October 22. They could not stop the train before Mr Simao sustained fatal injuries, and he died on the scene, his daughter said.
The 82-year-old had travelled to the centre of the Brazilian capital last month to repair a broken phone and later planned to meet his son, Nilton, to watch football.
But he died from grievous injuries received after the accident at Uruguaiana Station, according to local media reports.
He suffered severe trauma to his chest and abdomen and internal bleeding as he slipped between the train and platform.
Onlookers pressed the emergency button to activate the train’s brakes but could not save him.
Nilton Simbao told local reporters he had tried to contact his father for hours before he received a call from police.
He received news of his death after officers asked him to visit a police station.
There, he said his family learnt he had “suffered an accident trying to take the subway, how it had happened, and that he had died”.
The younger Mr Simbao is one of five children left behind by his late father, who also had a wife.
His sister, Simone Brito Simao, provided a lengthy tribute, saying her father believed wholeheartedly in Brazil’s metro system.
She explained he considered transport “to be one of the safest means” of travel.
Ms Simao added that he had died on the platform and appealed for action from local authorities.
She said: “I want to make an appeal so that together we can push the authorities and competent bodies to take action so that my father’s death is not a number, and so that this does not happen again for any other family.”
“Security on transport is not a favour. Safety for metro users is not a favour. It is an obligation!”
MetroRio representatives said they have reached out to Mr Simbao’s family and offered assistance following the accident.
And officials have set up an Accident Assessment Committee to investigate the incident.
Source: Read Full Article
