Man Fatally Struck By LIRR Train Fell Through The Gap: NTSB

UPDATE: NTSB now says man didn't fall through gap.

A man who died at the Lynbrook Long Island Rail Road station in early April fell through the gap before being run over by the train, officials say.

The investigation into the accident was taken over by the National Transportation Safety Board. The accident occurred on April 5 and shut down service on the Long Beach Branch.

According to NTSB authorities, the investigation is still ongoing. But the preliminary details say that a man was on the platform at 8:15 p.m. Passengers got off a train heading to Penn Station and other passengers got on, and the conductor closed the doors. After that, officials say numerous people saw the man stumble and fall between the gap and under the train.

Witnesses called out for the train to stop, but the man was killed before it could be.

The man's identity has not yet been released. Authorities are still investigating why he fell.

The LIRR has a long history of gap-related accidents, although they have been significantly decreasing in recent years. A Newsday investigation from 2007 revealed that, in the previous 12 years, the LIRR logged 800 gap-related incidents and injuries. That was capped with the death of 18-year-old Natalie Smead, a teen from Minnesota, who died after she drunkenly fell in the gap and was hit by a train.

Photo: Patch