A security guard working for the German railway company Deutsche Bahn fell from a moving train during a violent confrontation with a passenger, resulting in life-threatening injuries after his fall, according to German police and public prosecutors.

According to a statement issued early Saturday morning by German police, the incident occurred Friday evening during a ticket inspection on a train traveling from Offenburg to Karlsruhe in southwestern Germany. A verbal dispute broke out during the ticket check, prompting the intervention of two security personnel from Deutsche Bahn.

It is suspected that a passenger, believed to be under the influence of alcohol, insulted the two security guards, after which the situation escalated into a physical altercation between the passenger (36 years old) and one of the security guards (26 years old).

The two men fell onto the train floor during the scuffle, and then one of the train doors opened for reasons still unknown, causing the security guard to fall from the moving train near Ettlingen-Bruchhausen, according to police and prosecutors.

It remains unclear how fast the train was traveling at the time of the incident. The suspect was arrested while still on board the train.

The security guard was eventually found with life-threatening injuries beside the railway tracks after an extensive search, about two kilometers from where the train later stopped. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Police are investigating the circumstances of the incident and the exact sequence of events. The train was taken out of service pending the investigation.

A similar incident occurred in February in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where a ticket inspector was beaten to death by a man without a ticket after being asked to leave the train during a ticket check.

Last week, the 26-year-old perpetrator was sentenced to ten years in prison after being convicted of causing death through physical assault. He had delivered violent punches to the ticket inspector's head, resulting in a brain hemorrhage from which he died.

The crime caused widespread shock across Germany and sparked a debate about security on trains. For many train inspectors, the incident has taken on a painful significance amid increasing attacks on railway employees.

According to German government data, the Federal Police recorded around 2,690 attacks on Deutsche Bahn employees in 2025, an increase of about 11% compared to the previous year.

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