Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Selfless hero dies
As the sound of a train horn filled the air over Chartham on Tuesday morning, no one was prepared for the horror that was about to unfold.
The driver was steering the 10.22 from Ramsgate through the station on its way to a scheduled stop in Ashford when he became aware of people on the line ahead of him.
A woman had plunged on to the tracks below, quickly followed by a man who tried save her.
The selfless actions of retired academic Dr David Ashworth ultimately cost him his life at the age of 74.
The woman he was trying to save, Chartham mother-of-one Ella Akehurst, survived.
Dr Ashworth has been hailed a hero by his children and the family of Miss Akehurst.
Miss Akehurst’s brother Luke Akehurst said: “We are devastated by the death of David Ashworth who was a much-loved friend of our family and had been part of our lives for three decades.
“He was a kind, caring and totally selfless person and that he lost his life heroically saving Ella’s life is a tragedy.
“Our thoughts are with his family.”
The emergency services were first called at just before 11am on Tuesday to the picturesque centre of the village.
Dr Ashworth, a former Kent University electronics lecturer, was killed at the scene.
Miss Akehurst, 38, was airlifted to a hospital in London with serious injuries.
She was yesterday (Wednesday) reported as being in a stable condition.
Dr Ashworth had been a close family friend of Miss Akehurst’s parents, who live in Rattington Street.
Mike Kember was on the platform waiting for another train when he saw Miss Akehurst drop from the concrete bridge, followed by Dr Ashworth.
The shaken 44-year-old, who gave a statement to police, told the Kentish Gazette: “The lady had been on the bridge over the line and then jumped off it, landing right between the rails where she was lying parallel between them.
“The man then jumped down and was trying to get her off. While he was doing that you could hear the electric rail buzzing meaning that the train was coming.
“You could hear the driver was sounding the horn and the brakes of the train were squealing. The man couldn’t get her off and he was then trying to get to the end of the platform but did not make it and that was when the accident happened.
“The bloke was a hero. It’s just so unfortunate that this happened to someone trying to rescue another person.
“There was no way the driver could have stopped the train.
“It soon became very chaotic with people trying to help and the emergency services arriving. “It was a real shaker.” Dr Ashworth lived in Rowan Close in Sturry, a quiet cul-desac perched on the hillside overlooking the Stour valley.
Family members did not want to speak, but instead released a statement saying: “We are very proud of our father’s actions in saving the life of a young lady and clearly devastated at the loss of his life in doing so.
“Our thoughts are with the young lady, her family, and the train driver and we would like to add that we request privacy at this difficult time.”
The green Toyota Yaris Dr Ashworth had driven to the station is being held by staff at the garage next door.
British Transport Police are investigating, but confirmed they are not treating the death as suspicious.
Access to the village from Ashford Road was shut off for more than four hours.
The track was closed until about 2.30pm and Southeastern ran a replacement bus service between Canterbury West and Ramsgate.