A German passenger train was brought to a shuddering halt when a soccer ball flew from a nearby pitch and hit a brake pipe, triggering an automatic braking system, police said on Tuesday.
”The ball hit the brake pipe between the locomotive and the first carriage and undid it, leading to a loss of pressure,” said a police spokesperson in the western city of Muenster. ”This caused the train to brake automatically.”
A local youth team were playing soccer at the time on a pitch near the railway line in Emsdetten, near Muenster. No one has claimed the shot that stopped the train, the spokesperson said.
The driver managed to re-attach the pipe and the train was delayed by only eight minutes, he added. — Reuters