DURHAM, N.H. - An Amtrak Downeaster train struck and killed a woman in Durham, New Hampshire, Wednesday night. Local police say it was a suicide. There have been three similar incidents in Maine this year involving the Downeaster.
The two most recent fatalities in Maine were in North Berwick in July and September. The executive director of the Northern New England Rail Authority, Patricia Quinn, says her organization works with Operation Lifesaver to prevent accidental injuries and fatalities on and around railroad tracks. But she says different interventions are needed to prevent people from taking their own lives.
"The instances of these kinds of occurrences everywhere are a concern," she says, "and I think need to be dealt with on a different level than what we can accomplish through fences and signs."
Greg Marley of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Maine says he's concerned that news of the deaths may create so-called suicide hot spots. Marley says it's important to recognize changes in someone's behavior.
"Reach out and break the isolation and ask them how they're doing," Marley says. "Most of the time, suicide is about people being cut off and isolated in those moments of crisis."
Marley says to get help, or find out how to help someone in distress, call the Maine Crisis Hotline at 1-888-568-1112.
