Update: Rail accident schoolgirl remains in hospital

6:27pm Tuesday 9th October 2007

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The 15-year-old schoolgirl who was dragged under a train at Worcester Park last week is still in hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Lauren Cleere, of Worcester Park, fell when she tried to reach her friends on the station platform. Eyewitness Stephen Whitehead, who was on the platform at the time, said Lauren, who attends Raynes Park High School was not running when she fell, but did step over the yellow line.

He said: "It was very busy and the passengers know where the train doors are going to be. As the train pulled into the station a crowd of people at the platform all stepped forward. The girl walked into these people trying to get to her friends. She was walking along the platform and brushing past the train in the opposite direction to the way the train was travelling.

"She was caught by the train and spun round 90 degrees. She lost her footing and just dropped between the train and the platform."

Mr Whitehead, a Worcester Park resident, said other girls nearby knew Lauren's name and were in the same school uniform. Two people on the platform came to her aid as well as a doctor who was on the Epsom to Waterloo train which hit her at about 8am on October 2.

Mr Whitehead said reports that Lauren was pushed, and the platform was unsafe, were not correct.

"Some people were saying the platform was soaking wet - it was damp not slippery," he said. "I didn't see any contact between anyone and I don't think she was pushed at all. It was an accident."

Lauren, a Raynes Park High School pupil, suffered massive blood loss and had her spleen removed following the incident.

She is also believed to have suffered severe damage to a foot. Passengers whose trains were delayed by the incident were told someone had died on the tracks. South West Trains has apologised for the announcement.

Lauren is still at St George's Hospital, Tooting. A British Transport Police spokeswoman said: "She has weeks of surgery ahead of her and she remains in hospital with life threatening injuries."

Hundreds of people have left tributes for the teenager on www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk here

while the operator of a kiosk at the station has launched a get well card commuters can sign.