ATTLEBORO, Mass. — One man died and another was burned Friday night after the pair climbed a signal post along the Acela Express rail line in Attleboro and were electrocuted, according to MBTA Police.
Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said the two men, attending a nearby party, climbed a fence onto the rail corridor and scaled a signal pole to a work platform, according to a report in the Boston Herald.
Pesaturo said the two men were apparently hanging out and drinking on the platform when one of them touched the 26-thousand bolt overhead wires that power the Acela Express trains.
The man, 21-year-old Matthew Holmes, was electrocuted and thrown from the platform to the ground, 30 feet below. He was taken to Sturdy Hospital in Attleboro, where he was pronounced dead, Pesaturo said.
The second man, 20-year-old James Taylor of Norwood, suffered burns when Taylor was electrocuted. Officials at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I. said early Saturday morning that Taylor he was is in good condition.
MBTA police are investigating. The MBTA and Amtrak share the rail corridor.