American authorities have identified the mute and deaf Myanmar refugee who was struck and killed by a Regional Transportation District (RTD) test train on February 19 in Aurora, Colorado.
The deceased was 35-year-old Saw Eh who, unable to hear or read English, failed to heed the crossing gate’s flashing lights and walked onto the tracks just as the RTD train that was being tested was approaching. Speaking to local media, family members explained that Saw Eh crossed those tracks on a daily basis, and probably felt that he could disregard warnings of the oncoming train.
“Apparently, he just didn’t see the lights…He didn’t hear it at all. He just pushed through the pedestrian gate. He just walked right in front of the train. It was a horrible accident,” police spokesman Lieutenant Mike McClelland told the Denver Post.
Saw Eh was taken to the University of Colorado Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
His mother, Kyin Shwe, told Denver7 that her son was “very honest and very obedient,” and often helped out at home and at church. She only found out the news after returning from church that day.
“When I came back from church, I saw a lot of police were in that location…When I came home, his father told me, ‘Your son’s left for a long, long time,’” she recalled.
Kyin Shwe and her family left Myanmar for Denver as refugees six years ago. Colorado is a popular relocation state among Myanmar refugees, and is even home to the Burma Community Rangers, an organisation “founded by refugees from Burma, for refugees from Burma, with the firm belief that if we unite together, we will be stronger and have the chance of a more prosperous future for all refugees from Burma.”
The R Line — the RTD’S newest rail line, one of whose test trains hit Saw Eh — began operating days after the accident.
An official investigation into the accident is still being conducted, and an official cause of death has yet to be determined.
