BILIMBAY, SVERDLOVSKAYA OBLAST, RUSSIA – FEBRUARY 13, 2021 23-year-old Polina Petrova was a normal Russian girl. She grew up in the small village of Bilimbay in the Sverdlovsk region. When she became independent, she rented a room in Yekaterinburg and found a job in a car repair shop. When she finally saved enough money, she wanted to take a break from the winter and travel to an exotic destination. She bought a trip to Cuba, which she intended to fully enjoy.
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- Polina Petrova 1
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- Polina Petrova 2
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- Polina Petrova 3
To capture every detail of her vacation, she returned to her family in Bilimbay and borrowed a GoPro camera from her brother. However, she stayed longer than she wanted and was barely able to catch her train back to Yekaterinburg. Since she wanted to go straight from the station to the airport and trains ran infrequently, catching that train was her only chance to make the flight.
Time pressure and excitement about the upcoming vacation caused Polina to be completely inattentive. While running across the platform to her train, she forgot to look around and was struck by another train passing through. The consequences were fatal, and she died on the spot.
The incident highlights not only the risks caused by time pressure but also the dangers on Russian railways. In developed countries, a train would never pass through a track where passengers were at risk. The Bilimbay station justified it by saying they announced a warning about the passing train over the loudspeaker about a minute before the tragedy. However, Polina, as a delayed passenger, did not hear it.
