The woman tragically hit by a train in Hamilton earlier this week has been confirmed as a young mom with a baby who was just days old.
A woman and a baby died after being struck by a freight train at a Hamilton railway station.
Emergency services were called to Frankton Station in Hamilton around 8.10am on Tuesday 18 January and found a dead baby alongside a dead woman on the tracks.
The woman was 27 years old and the baby was less than a week old, the coroner confirmed.
Coroner Bruce Hesketh is now investigating the cause and circumstances of the death.
Police told the NZ Herald they would not be releasing any further information.
KiwiRail acting group chief executive David Gordon told the Herald the train driver has been put on leave and was being offered counselling and any other support.
“These types of events are deeply traumatic for those involved, and our thoughts are with all those affected,” Gordon said.
Shortly after the pair died, several people gathered at the scene and could be seen hugging and comforting each other.
Mothers Matters communications professional Claire Henry said it was highly concerning how prevalent mental health issues were among women who were also finding it harder and harder to get support.
“Motherhood is becoming more stressful and the midwife shortage and limited choices available to birthing women is increasingly concerning and could be detrimental to a mother’s wellbeing”, she said.
Mothers Matter is lobbing the NZ Government to establish a fund that enables women to use the money to support their personal needs such as mental health or physio for pelvic floor issues.
Henry said the Hamilton train incident was extremely sad and so many stories around women’s experiences were going unheard.
“There must have been some red flags there.”
