Gatwick Express passenger killed after leaning out of train window

A train passenger was killed after being struck in the head by a passing train as he apparently leaned out of an open window.

The accident took place at Wandsworth Common station in south-west London on Sunday afternoon.

The unnamed victim, in his twenties, was travelling aboard the Gatwick Express from Gatwick airport to Victoria. He is thought to have leaned out the window, unaware that another train was approaching on the neighbouring track.

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A woman who said she had been on the train told Wandsworth Radio: "He lifted his head out and basically he didn't notice that the train was coming, so all you see is basically a head gone.

"All I saw was a split second of what happened. The woman that mostly saw it, I spoke to her and she was crying."

Emergency services were called at 5.34pm following reports of a head injury at the station and an air ambulance landed shortly after. The man was pronounced dead at the scene and his body taken away in a private ambulance.

The station was cordoned off for several hours as police investigated the scene, although British Transport Police later confirmed the incident was not being treated as suspicious, the Wandsworth Guardian reports.

Transport police also dismissed reports that the passenger had been decapitated. "Our investigation remains at an early stage, but initial enquiries suggest the man may have been leaning out of a train door window when he suffered a blow to the head," said a spokesperson.

"We are aware of a number of reports on social media which say the man was decapitated. However, this is not the case."