A German train conductor died of serious injuries on Wednesday morning after allegedly being brutally attacked by a Greek national on a regional train near Kaiserslautern, media outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung reports.

Following a an arrest warrant, the Greek perpetrator was taken into custody by German police.

As Süddeutsche Zeitung reports, the victim, identified as Serkan C, 36, was physically attacked by a 26-year-old passenger during a routine ticket check. According to the police report, the employee requested the passenger disembark the train after the victim found the attacker’s ticket to be invalid.

Police say the perpetrator, one of a group of four individuals between 20-30 years old, lost control and attacked the train conductor with such viciousness that Serkan C had to be resuscitated on the spot.

The Deutsche Bahn (DB) employee was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, where he fought for his life for 24 hours, as Süddeutsche Zeitung reports.

On Wednesday morning, Deutsche Bahn released an internal memo to its employees informing them of the tragic incident. “It is with great sadness that we must inform you today that our colleague Serkan C. from the Mannheim operations unit has succumbed to his severe injuries and passed away in hospital,” the message said.

It added, “Serkan C. was only 36 years old and a single father of two children,” the statement continued. He had worked for the company at the Mannheim unit for 15 years. To support his surviving family members, Deutsche Bahn has set up a donation account.
“Serkan C. was simply doing his job early on Monday evening,” said the new head of Deutsche Bahn.

According to a report by another German media outlet, BILD, a minute’s silence will observed at 3 pm (local German time, 4 pm Greek time) throughout Germany in memory of the victim, while announcements will made at train stations and onboard trains of the tragic incident.

According to a 2024 survey by the trade union, eight out of ten employees have already been victims of verbal or physical attacks, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports.

Although severe assaults are the exception, they do occur. On 3 July 2025, for example, a 59-year-old bus driver in Bergheim was the victim of a similarly brutal attack. He too was beaten unconscious and subsequently placed in an induced coma for several hours, but survived. To this day, the man suffers from panic attacks, and returning to his profession is no longer conceivable.