Teenager hit by train fights for life

Sep 11 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal

A TEENAGE boy was fighting for his life last night after he was struck by a train on Tyneside. The accident happened at around 11.40am, behind the Davy Roll factory, near to Coulthards Lane, in Saltmeadows, Gateshead, when the youngster was hit by a train believed to have been travelling at around 40mph.

A group of youths were spotted near the scene immediately before the incident and British Transport Police confirmed they were not ruling out the possibility that the youngster was being chased.

They also said that the driver was helpless to avoid hitting the boy and that the youngster had run in front of the train.

The boy, believed to be in his late teens, suffered serious head injuries and a punctured lung.

He was taken to Gateshead’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, but was last night transferred to Newcastle General Hospital.

Northumbria Police said it was the Hexham to Middlesbrough Northern Rail service that was involved in the accident.

They also confirmed a full investigation was under way to determine the circumstances leading to the incident.

The East Coast Main Line was closed after the incident and was not reopened again until almost 12.30pm.

A spokesman for the British Transport Police said: “He was found unconscious at the scene but was not trapped under the train.

“He ran across the track and was struck. We are checking out reports of a group of youths in the area but those are not positive yet.

“There is no indication that he was being chased, but we are waiting to carry out a full investigation to determine that.”

Michael Doherty, 30, from Cramlington, Northumberland, was operating a digger on a construction site only yards from the scene when he saw police cars and a police helicopter.

He said: “There were loads of police cars and one looked like an armed response unit, because the guy got out and he had a gun in a holster. It was just before dinner, and there was an ambulance and a police helicopter circling.”

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: “At around 11.40am police were called to the East Coast Main Line near Coulthards Lane in Gateshead, following reports of a collision between a train and a teenage boy.

“Emergency services attended and his injuries are thought to be life threatening.”

Police confirmed a full investigation was under way to determine the circumstances leading to the incident