A man lost his leg Tuesday afternoon after getting trapped beneath a MARTA train at the Vine City station, according to Atlanta Fire and Rescue.
Authorities did not identify the man, and it remained unclear if he intentionally jumped onto the tracks or fell into the train’s path by accident.
Dozens of Atlanta firefighters descended on the busy station for the emergency situation, which caused about two hours of service interruptions on MARTA’s blue and green lines.
MARTA police are investigating the incident, and charges could be forthcoming, spokesperson Stephany Fisher told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
According to Atlanta fire spokesperson Alyssa Richardson, crews were dispatched to Vine City just after 4:30 p.m. following reports that a man was stuck beneath a two-car train. Fisher said it was one of MARTA’s shorter trains that runs on the green line.
Richardson indicated the man was conscious when crews arrived. First responders had to shut down all power to the train and the tracks before they began the “disentanglement and extrication” phase of the rescue effort, Richardson said.
She noted it took crews a few minutes to get the man out from beneath the train. By the time they did, he was unconscious, although he was still breathing and had a pulse when paramedics took him to Grady Memorial Hospital.
“He lost a leg due to being entangled under the train,” Richardson said.
Passengers had to be re-routed on buses while the power was shut off. Power was restored and all the trains were running as regularly scheduled again by 7 p.m., according to MARTA.
Fisher said the transit agency’s police department and a public safety team will work to determine exactly what happened.
“We will see how he got down there,” she said.
It’s not the first time someone has wandered into harm’s way at a MARTA station. Atlanta firefighters had to remove a man from the tracks after he got stuck underneath a train at the Georgia World Congress Center/CNN Center station in February.
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