Graduate is killed by train trying to save dog on rail line
A YOUNG graduate died when she was hit by a train after she ran on to the tracks to rescue the dog she was walking.
Yasmin Jones, 22, is thought to have chased after the pet when it wriggled beneath the gates at a level crossing.
The crossing had been branded ‘high risk’ because of a nearby bend in the track which makes approaching trains only visible for a matter of seconds.
Yasmin’s father, Nigel Jones, yesterday said she had been trying to chase her boss’s dog when it ran off and she was tragically hit by a train at Freshfield, near Liverpool.
Mr Jones, from Glastonbury, Somerset, said she had just graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a 2:1 in drama and had decided to stay on Merseyside as she had ‘fallen in with love’ with the city. She had taken up a part-time job at a local pub and had offered to walk the landlady’s two dogs.
He added: ‘ Yasmin had taken the dogs to a nature reserve, where she had been looking for red squirrels. The dog caught sight of another dog on the other side of the line and ran. Without thinking Yasmin followed.’
Yesterday friends paid tribute to Miss Jones.
Former school friend Adam Prescott, wrote on Facebook: ‘Such a lovely kind quiet girl. I’m devastated.’
Sophie Goddard- Jones added: ‘So much love for such an outrageously outstanding human. Keep sharing the love just like she always did.’
University friend Kathryn Schofield added: ‘Still in shock and been thinking of you and your loved ones all day Yasmin Jones our beautiful DIVA!!’
A spokesman for British Transport Police confirmed the death and said the incident was not being treated as suspicious.
The tragedy happened at a crossing, known as Fisherman’s Path, between Freshfield and Ainsdale stations, north of Liverpool, at 3pm on Wednesday.
‘A lovely, kind girl’
Kanesh Saran, who works at a nearby newsagents, said: ‘People say that it’s a dangerous spot. Dogs can get underneath the gate. That’s where the problem started. She has gone through the gate to protect the dog which was on the track and then been hit. It’s very, very sad.’
It is understood that the dog also died. Network Rail graded the crossing as ‘high risk’ in its most recent inspection due to the 146 trains that pass each day and the number of people who use it.
In an email from Network Rail to local councillor Nina Killen in April, a spokesman said it planned to close the crossing in the next 18 months.
It added: ‘We have secured funding for a footbridge at Fishermans Path and if all goes to plan, it should be installed within the next 18 months.’
Mr Jones said his family had been left devastated. He added: ‘No words can describe the emptiness we feel at this time. We are comforted by the knowledge that her energy and love of life has touched the hearts of so many.
‘As a family we ask for privacy at this time so that we can try and come to terms with this awful tragedy.’