Moscow subway scare: Driver dies, but full passenger train rolls on

A Moscow Metro driver died after falling from a moving car, leaving the passenger-packed train to head to the station unattended.

The train without a driver arrived at Ryazansky Prospect station on Friday at 10:30pm MSK, the police said.

It stopped as a result of emergency braking, according to the Moscow subway press service. No casualties or injuries among the passengers were reported.

The body of the driver, who was identified as Aleksey Morozov, was later discovered between the stations.

The police say that the man’s death was caused by “multiple injuries.” The electricity in the tunnel was switched off for 10 minutes in order to extract the body.

The investigators blame negligence for the tragedy, with footage from a CCTV camera inside the car indicating that the driver was alone in the cockpit.

“Apparently, the driver was killed as a result of safety violations as he opened the door and looked outside,” the police said.

Lifenews TV channel claims the man had a heart attack and wanted to open the window in the car to get some air, but pressed the wrong button and opened the door – he fell on the rail-track while trying to correct his mistake.

But one of Morozov’s colleagues doubts this explanation, saying that it’s pretty hard to confuse the “door (on the left) with a window (on the right).”

“…Suicide? I don’t believe it. The tracks go up before Ryazansky Prospect and the speed of entry to the station is quite low. One has to be a masochist to opt for exiting an open door at such a low speed,” LiveJournal user metroelf wrote. “Nothing is clear. Only he knows why he opened the door, but, alas, he won’t say anything. How could he fall? People stumble on level ground, breaking their legs and here it was a shaking train.”