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A man in his 20s has been killed in a horror train accident after leaning out of a Gatwick Express window, it is understood.

The tragic victim is thought to have been on board a Gatwick Express train heading to London Victoria when he decided to look out of a window.

It is not yet clear if the window was already open, or if he opened it himself but after leaning out his head is believed to have struck a verge-side gantry at around 5.30pm this afternoon.

According to reports the gruesome accident happened in front of a horrified mother and daughter, from Dorset, as the train sat in Wandsworth Common station in south London.

The horrified passenger claims there was a delay in getting the train into the station in the moments after the accident.

(Image: @Lucie_Walker/Twitter)

As the train was manned by just a driver, the unnamed woman said she felt the situation was much harder to resolve as there was no conductor to deal with the situation in the passenger compartment.

She and her daughter pulled the communication chord to warn the driver ,who stopped the train then had to investigate.

A spokeswoman for London Ambulance Service said: "We were called at 5.34pm to reports of an incident at Wandsworth Common railway station.

"We sent an ambulance crew, a single responder and a car and an incident response officer to the scene alongside an air ambulance.

"We treated a person at the scene for a head injury but sadly they were pronounced dead by the doctor from the air ambulance."

(Image: PA)

A London Air Ambulance helicopter landed in a nearby field as startled passers-by looking on.

A police cordon was in place around the entrance to the station hours after the incident.

Several officers carried the man’s body, wrapped in a blanket, to the back of a private ambulance.

They placed it carefully in the back before the vehicle was driven slowly from the scene.

Residents said they were shocked to see the air ambulance land on the common earlier in the afternoon.

One said: “We were coming back across the common when we saw the helicopter land.

(Image: PA)

“It was at about 6pm. There were lots of police and ambulances there, it was disconcerting.”

Another said: “I heard a man was hit by a train and heard the air ambulance land on the common. It’s such a horrible thing to have happened.”

Rumours soon began circulating on social networks that a horrific accident had happened on board a train.

A self-proclaimed travel expert on Twitter, posting under the name Mr Sinclair, said the train model in question was “ancient” and has windows “easily big enough to put a head through”.

They added: “The class 442 (ancient ones forced by Govt on GatEx) have Windows easily big enough to put head through.

"Many haven't been secured shut. I imagine due to air con poor reliability."

A separate account, posting under the name Train and Plane Hub, added: "They can be opened quite easily and in summer months they're often open for ventilation."

(Image: @Lucie_Walker/Twitter)

A source told Mirror Online the tragic victim is thought to have put their head out of a window of a 'fast train' running along the Gatwick Airport to London Victoria line when the horror incident happened.

A British Transport Police (BTP) spokesperson said: "BTP officers were called to Wandsworth Common Railway Station, London on Sunday, 7th August.

"Officers from the BTP attended an incident, which was reported to BTP at 1732 hours, and is currently being treated as non suspicious.

"Medics from the local Ambulance service also attended but the man was pronounced deceased at the scene.

" A file will be prepared for the Coroner."

A spokesman for Southern and Gatwick Express wrote: "We can confirm reports of an incident on board a Gatwick Express train which was en route to Victoria from Gatwick this afternoon.

"The emergency services attended the scene at Wandsworth Common station. We have no further information at this stage.

"We are co-operating fully with British Transport Police and the Rail Accident Investigation board who are investigating this incident."

An earlier version of this article contained speculation as to the cause of the victim’s death. This has since been clarified by the British Transport Police. We have since been asked by some of the victim's relatives to make clear that it has not been established that he was 'leaning' out of the train window when he was struck and killed by a signal gantry on 7 August'.