Service resumed at a BART station in San Francisco Monday morning after a person was found dead in a trackway between two stations.
Shortly after 1 a.m., observers saw an unresponsive person on the trackway between Balboa Park and Daly City stations, BART spokesperson Jim Allison told The Standard.
San Francisco Fire Lt. Mariano Elias said a paramedic responded to a call from the Balboa Park Station at 1:40 a.m. and pronounced the person dead at the scene. The city’s medical examiner officer responded to take possession of the body. There were no preliminary indications of foul play, Allison said.
BART staff closed the station in response, and trains did not stop at the station when the system opened for service around 4:30 a.m. The closure delayed two trains by 25 minutes and 16 minutes respectively.
Around 5:20 a.m., the station reopened for full service, Allison said.
There is a station closure and currently no service at Balboa Park station on the San Francisco Line in all direction due to police activity.
— BART Alert (@SFBARTalert) January 29, 2024
BART is recovering from an earlier problem. Balboa Park station has reopened and trains are making normal stops. There is a 20-minute delay on the San Francisco Line in the East Bay direction due to previous police activity.
— BART Alert (@SFBARTalert) January 29, 2024
Seven people died on the BART system in the first three months of 2023, according to data obtained from a public records request. Nearly all were due to suspected overdoses.
Two others died Nov. 23, 2023, in Oakland and San Francisco stations, despite the administration of Narcan. Two more died in December, with one man found dead Dec. 25, 2023, at the Daly City station’s parking garage and another found dead aboard a Downtown station train Dec. 27, 2023.
Unattended deaths on BART property have gradually ticked up over the past few years, in line with the growing severity of the fentanyl crisis.
Last year’s 19 deaths are almost double the 11 unattended deaths on BART in 2021, a slight increase from the 10 people found dead on the system in 2020. In 2019, BART reported 12 such deaths.