Update, Dec. 5: The person who died after being struck by a train at the downtown Berkeley BART station was Selam Sekuar, according to the Daily Cal. Sekuar, a UC Berkeley freshman and international student from Ethiopia, was 19. Read more about Sekuar.
Original story:
Update, 10:24 p.m.: The downtown Berkeley BART station reopened at 10:10 p.m. Tuesday. A BART spokesperson said service is running normally on the Richmond line although there would be “residual delays.”
To recap: BART received a report at 6:47 p.m. of a person under a train. At 7 p.m., BART confirmed that was the case. At around 7:15 p.m. BART confirmed the person had died. The station was closed from 7-10:10 p.m. while the case was investigated.
Update, 9:40 p.m.: The downtown Berkeley BART station remains closed due to a person who went under a train shortly before 7 p.m. and was pronounced dead. Trains are running through the station but not stopping. BART says to expect 15-20 minute delays. Embarcadero station in San Francisco is also closed due a person under a train.
Update, 9 p.m.: BART reports that there is a station closure at the Embarcadero in San Francisco, on the Daly City line, due to “a major medical emergency.”
Update, 7:50 p.m.: BART police and Berkeley firefighters were attending to “a person under a train” at the downtown Berkeley station, according to BART.
In a recorded message, BART confirmed that the station would continue to be closed “until the investigation was complete.”
The report of a person under a train came in just before 7 p.m., the message said. The station was closed at 7 p.m., and authorities confirmed at 7:15 p.m. that the person had died.
Passengers should expect 15-minute delays on the Richmond line in the Fremont direction.
Update, 7:38 p.m.: Lt. Steve Coontz of the BART Police confirmed that there was a fatality at the downtown Berkeley BART station and that the station is closed until further notice.
Coontz said trains are running through the station on some tracks but not stopping. “There are major delays,” he said at around 7:40 p.m.
Original story: Downtown Berkeley BART is closed in the Fremont, Richmond and Millbrae directions due to a major medical emergency, according to BART.
Just before 7 p.m., BART issued an advisory saying there was a 15-minute delay at downtown Berkeley on the Richmond line in the Richmond direction due to “a problem currently being investigated.”
Travelers reported on Twitter that the station was evacuated.
At around 7:15 p.m., Mori Yagi reported via Twitter that BART was “single-tracking trains between Richmond and MacArthur on Platform 4.”
This incident is the third involving a person under a train in Berkeley this month. On Nov. 8. a man lay down on the track-way as a train arrived at the North Berkeley BART station. When authorities found him, he was conscious and transported to Highland Hospital with moderate injuries. The following day, a distraught man tried to jump in front of a train at the North Berkeley BART station at approximately 9:30 p.m. The man was pulled off the tracks by a passer-by.
BART police also pulled a woman off the tracks at the Richmond station Tuesday morning, Nov. 25, at around 8 a.m. She was taken to a hospital for evaluation, according to CBS.
Accident closes Tunnel Road in southside Berkeley
Update, 8:50 p.m.: Berkeley Police report that Tunnel Road is now open. In response to questions from Berkeleyside, Officer Stephanie Polizziani said: “Roads are clear and open. I don’t have any other details other that it was a collision, minor injuries.”
Original story: Separately, Tunnel Road has been closed to traffic in both directions due to a vehicle accident near Oak Ridge Road. Two separate witnesses reported talking to police at around 6 p.m. who said the road would continue to be blocked for an hour or so.
We will update this story as we gather new information.
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