STRUCK BY TRAIN

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30364, 13 February 1964, Page 12

STRUCK BY TRAIN

Infant Killed At Burnham

A child, aged 18 months, was fatally injured When struck by a south-bound goods train when he was playing on a level crossing at the Burnham Military Camp at 11.20 a.m. . yesterday. The child was:

Kevin Samuel Shepherd, son of Corporal R. H. Shepherd and Mrs Shepherd, of Huia street, Burnham Military Camp.

The child wandered from his parents’ house in the camp, the nearest to the level crossing which giyes access to the housing area of the camp from the Main South road. The house is about 200 yards from the level crossing, and Huia street leads straight to the crossing. The child was playing with a toy barrow. The engine-driver saw the child just before the train reached the level crossing. The driver applied the brakes and took all emergency precautions, but was unable to stop the train, of a total weight of more than 650 tons, in time. The child suffered severe leg and head injuries, and was attended to at the scene of the accident by the camp medical officer. (Captain P. H. Bannister).

The child was taken to the Christchurch Hospital by the camp ambulance, but died shortly before reaching the hospital. The level crossing at which the accident happened is a mile south of the Burnham store. There are no gates on the crossing. Corporal Shepherd is a member of the Ist New Zealand Regiment. The family recently returned from Malaya.