Dead Man Rides The Berlin Subway, Passengers Thought He Was Sleeping

Passengers on the Berlin subway system received quite a shock early Sunday morning. As they rode the late night train, fellow passengers paid little, if any, attention to an older rider who was taking a nap, until the train pulled into the Weinmeisterstrasse station and a subway worker tried to rouse him. Much to the dismay and surprise of onlookers, the man died, still sitting upright, during the course of his travels.

A Berlin police spokeswoman spoke about the discovery of the dead man:

“It’s tragic. We don’t know how long he was sitting dead on the train, nor do we know the exact cause of death yet. There are no indications of foul play. He seems to have died of natural causes.”

The yet unidentified man is said to be 65 years of age. He was riding the U-8 Subway line when the train pulled into the Weinmeisterstrasse station at 5:45 a.m local time. A station attendant tried to gently shake the man to wake him up and discovered, to his shock, the man was not breathing.

Berlin paramedics rushed to the scene and tried to resuscitate the man but were unable to revive him. They pronounced him dead at the scene and his body was transported to the morgue. An autopsy will be performed on Monday to officially ascertain the cause of death.

Established in 1902, the Berlin subway, or U-Bahn, serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of 146.3 kilometres (90.9 mi), about 80% of which is actually underground. The subway transports 500 million passengers annually, while travelling travel 20.9 million km (13 million mi) over the course of the year. Many of the stations are adorned with artwork and the architecture is renowned the world over.

Subway deaths have been in the headlines recently. On December 3. 2012, the entire world was stunned when a New York Post photographer took a photograph of a man who was only seconds away from being stuck by a train after being pushed on the tracks. The Post raised a storm of protest when they ran the image on the from page of the newspaper with the headline, “DOOMED.”

The Inquisitr send its condolences to the family of the man who passed away today on the Berlin city subway. Ride safe and look out for your neighbors when you travel the subways of the world.