A man was killed at a railway station in a Paris suburb this week after being crushed by a train while he and an accomplice were trying to rob a resisting victim.
The incident took place on Thursday evening at the Maisons-Alfort-Alfortville train station in Val-de-Marne in the suburbs of Paris, and saw two robbers attempt to steal a bag — but they were met with resistance from the victim.
The robbers are said to have approached the victim, who was on his phone at the time, and attempted to quietly steal his bag, but once he noticed them the victim fought back. During the struggle that followed, one of the attackers fell on the railway tracks and was crushed by a high-speed TGV train, Actu17 reports.
The man who fell on the tracks is said to have been instantly killed, and police arrested both the remaining robber and the victim after arriving on the scene.
Three witnesses described the events to officers, while the driver of the train stated he attempted to stop but was unable in time.
The incident comes as many in France have expressed fear for their safety in their everyday lives due to rising levels of crime, including robberies and other forms of violence.
France’s Interior Ministry released the 2022 statistics on crime late last month, noting that crimes such as intentional assault and battery had increased by over ten per cent, while so-called non-violent robberies increased by 13.7 per cent.
A poll released in December by the Elabe Institute claimed that up to two-thirds of the French public are concerned about their personal safety in their day-to-day lives and that 68 per cent say the security situation has deteriorated.
Only 30 per cent of those surveyed said they trusted that President Emmanuel Macroj could tackle the ongoing issues of insecurity, compared to 38 per cent who said they would trust populist National Rally presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.