British free-runner dies on Paris metro

A 20-year-old British free-runner died on New Year's Eve on the Paris metro, officials said Thursday. Police say Nye Frankie Newman was trying to climb onto the roof of a train but his companions insist he "wasn't train-surfing".

Daumesnil metro station, where the accident took place Open access/Geralix

Newman was a keen participant in free-running and parkour, in which people climb and jump over buildings and objects in an urban environment and was in Paris with a group of fellow enthusiasts.

After one of his companions alerted the driver of a metro train at 11.30 on New Year's Eve that one of the group had suffered head injuries and needed medical care, he was found "between two coaches of a train for an unknown reason", a statement from the RATP Paris transport department said.

He was taken to hospital by emergency services but later died.

A police source told the AFP news agency that he was trying to climb on the carriage's roof and fell.

But Luke Stones, another member of the group, insisted that he “wasn’t train surfing as many of you may assume”.

Train surfing consists of climbing onto a train's roof while it is still in order to stay there while it moves.

A mass parkour “training” event is planned on 4 March in the British town of Guildford in his memory, the London Evening Standard reports.