German Goalkeeper Robert Enke Struck By Train In Apparent Suicide

Posted on November 10, 2009

Robert Enke died after being hit by a train in what is considered to be a suicide. Enke was 32. Read more on Robert Enke’s death below.

Robert Enke played for the German club Hannover, and the team’s president Martin Kind confirmed Enke’s death. Police later released a statement saying a man had been fatally struck by a train Tuesday night. The statement said the “first police indications are that it was a suicide.”

Enke’s body was found at a train crossing in Neustadt am Ruebenberge near Hanover.

Police stated, “At 1825 (1725GMT) he was run over by a regional express train running between Hamburg and Bremen,’ said police spokesman Stefan Wittke. ‘The train was traveling at the speed of 160-kph.”

A friend of Enke’s stated to reporters: ‘I can confirm this is a case of suicide. He took his own life just before six (pm). There will be a press conference tomorrow with more details.’

Robert Enke leaves behind his wife, Teresa and their eight-month-old adopted daughter they just adopted in May. The Enkes lost their biological daughter named Lara in 2006 when she died of a rare heart condition at the age of two-years old.

“You expect many things, but not something like that,” Kind said. “I do not know how and why it happened, but I do not think that it had anything to do with football.”

The train track was not far from Enke’s Hannover home. Enke’s car was found near the scene, unlocked, with his wallet on the seat. The two train drivers reported seeing a man on the tracks and applied the brakes while traveling at about 100 mph but could not stop in time, police said.

“We are speechless,” German soccer federation president Theo Zwanziger said.

Enke had been diagnosed with a bacterial stomach ailment and missed nine weeks before returning just 11 days ago and he played two Bundesliga games.

The president of the German Football Association (DFB) Dr Theo Zwanziger added that he and the rest of the football community in Germany are stunned and in mourning.

“All our sympathy goes to the wife of Robert Enke and his family,” he added
on the DFB’s website.

Click thumbnails for larger pictures