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Victoria tube station evacuated due to 'emergency' after passenger hit by train

Police say person was pronounced dead at the scene

May Bulman
Social Affairs Correspondent
Sunday 10 September 2017 07:49 EDT
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Passengers were ordered by station staff to leave the premises just before 12pm on Sunday after a fatal incident on the track
Passengers were ordered by station staff to leave the premises just before 12pm on Sunday after a fatal incident on the track (Harriet Marsden)

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London's Victoria station has been evacuated after a passenger was fatally struck by a train on the northbound Victoria Line service.

A spokesperson for the British Transport Police (BTP) said the person was pronounced dead at the scene, but that the incident was being treated as non-suspicious.

Passengers were ordered by station staff to leave the premises just before 12pm on Sunday and take local buses instead.

Transport for London (TfL) told The Independent there had been a "passenger incident" and the station has been closed to allow emergency services to attend.

A reporter from The Independent on the ground witnessed police pull up onto the pavement outside the station and run inside.

There were reportedly nine emergency vehicles — four police vans, a TfL response unit, three fire engines and a fire rescue van — on the scene, as well as a significant police presence.

Police were heard saying 50 metres of track had been closed off in order to move a train to recover a body.

One passenger told The Independent they had been on the tube at Vauxhall when the driver announced that there was "a person under the train"

Customers appeared to remain largely calm during the evacuation, with one witness describing it as being the "calmest evacuation" they had ever seen.

Just before 12pm, the official Victoria Line and District Line Twitter accounts published the message: "Victoria Station closed due to a customer incident. Tickets are being accepted on local buses."

A British Transport Police (BTP) spokesperson said: "BTP officers were called to Victoria London Underground Station on Sunday 10 September after a report that a person had been struck by a train.

"Officers from the BTP attended the incident, which was reported to BTP at 11:38am and is currently being treated as non-suspicious.

"Medics from the London Ambulance Service also attended but the person was pronounced deceased at the scene. A file will be prepared for the Coroner. The train involved was a Northbound Victoria Line service."

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