A 30-year-old Zimbabwean policeman in Beitbridge was crushed to death by a speeding goods train after he allegedly threw himself onto the railway line ahead of the oncoming locomotive, in what is suspected to be a case of suicide, police said.

The incident occurred on Saturday at around 12:30 near Beitbridge border post on the Zimbabwean side of the border.

The train had just pulled out of the National Railway of Zimbabwe (NRZ) station in Beitbridge and was heading towards Musina.

When Mirror visited the scene shortly after the incident, the local police had already collected the lifeless body. Police said the deceased, Dimingo Makate, left a suicide note in which he alleged that he was having social problems with his family, which eventually resulted in his committing suicide.

An eyewitness, Memory Mudau, said: "I actually saw him throwing himself onto the railway line as the train was approaching at a fast speed. Next thing, he was crushed into pieces, which was really a gruesome sight."

The driver of the train, a South African, reportedly applied the brakes after the incident some few metres away from the scene and eventually broke down and started crying. Some people who had gathered at the scene had to console him as tears continuously rolled down his cheeks, in apparent shock and regret.

The body was taken to Beitbridge District Hospital