What to Know
- A 7-year-old boy died after he fell on the tracks while passing through train cars at the North Philadelphia SEPTA station.
- The boy was selling candy on the train with his older brother. They were with an unidentified man who was not their father.
- The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an incident in which a young boy who was selling candy on a train fell between two moving SEPTA subway cars and died in North Philadelphia.
Aiden Devlin, 7, his 11-year-old brother and an unidentified 26-year-old man were on a subway train on SEPTA's Broad Street Line Sunday around 5:45 p.m.
The train was traveling between the Allegheny and Lehigh stations. As Aiden was walking, he slipped and fell between two train cars and landed on the tracks below.
The operator stopped the train at the Lehigh station after being notified of the incident. Aiden was pronounced dead at 6:04 p.m.
"His brother came back and was crying," a passenger, who did not want to be identified, told NBC10. "He grabbed my hand and nothing could be said."
Officials say the man who was with the boys on the train is not a relative but their parents have been notified. Aiden's older brother was taken off the train by police.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
"They used to come and sell candy," Madeline Ayala, a neighbor of the boy's family, told NBC10.
SEPTA Police Chief Thomas Nestel called the death "a horrible, horrible thing." He said police are also conducting a routine sudden death investigation.
"When you imagine a 7-year-old boy on our subway cars you picture him in a seat and riding to the next station with an adult and safely traveling on our system," Nestel said.
Nestel said SEPTA's message was that "the walkway between train cars is not a safe passageway for people to use" while the train is moving.
SEPTA officials say the NTSB is also investigating.
Aden Devlin. See larger photo.
