What was a joy ride on a train on Thursday ended tragically when a man fell off the locomotive and lost both his legs.
The man had hitched a lift by hanging on a cargo train to Murang'a for New Year celebrations but decided to jump off at River Githanja bridge. The train was transporting petrol from Nairobi to Nanyuki.
"He feared that he would be arrested at the Maragua town terminus. He did not get his math right since he was not able to jump clear off the train and the rails," said Murang'a South Sub-County Police Commander Alexander Shikondi.
The officer said good Samaritans who rescued the man and rushed him to the hospital 50 metres away, reported to police that the man confessed to have jumped onto the train in Gíthurai to escape the Sh250 fare that public service vehicles were charging him to Murang'a.
He had a carrier bag that had one packet of wheat flour, a loaf of bread and a kilo of sugar.
He said the mid-afternoon incident left the youthful man without legs after they were run over by the last two cabins, severing them just below the knees.
"We have been informed by doctors that he has lost the two legs. The doctors have amputated the stubs to control the injuries," he said.
Mr Shikondi said it was not immediately possible to get a statement from the train's crew and the victim.
"We called the terminus and the crew was not even aware of the incident. They said all the listed crew and cargo were safe, meaning the youth was an illegal passenger," he said.
Mr Shikondi said police will give the victim some time to stabilise so that he can shed more light on what happened.
"We will be seeking to know at what point he hiked the lift, where he was heading to and why he decided to jump off," he said.
He said they are unlikely to charge the man "since under such circumstances injuries incurred are enough punishment," urging others with similar intentions to think twice.
