The RCMP say a 29-year-old man is dead after he was struck by a train in Moncton early Wednesday morning.

Police say the Moncton man was in a wheelchair at the time of the incident, which happened at a crossing on Lutz Street, near Queen Street, around 1:45 a.m.

Officials say the lights and mechanical gates were working at the time of the collision.

The man who was killed on the tracks was a good friend to Marisol Benoit, a Moncton woman who also depends on her wheelchair to get around.

“We always were trying to make sure someone would be with him on the track to help him out, but it wasn’t always the case,” says Benoit’s translator, Natalie Fougere. “He was very independent. Going out, he would do his own thing a lot of the time, so we were always scared, but we figured he would be safe.”

The RCMP say the man was alone when he was struck. They’re now waiting for toxicology reports to be completed. Police and CN are working together on the investigation.

“We don’t know why the person was on the tracks at this point,” says Cpl. Jacques Cloutier of the Codiac RCMP. “Like I said, we may never know, but at this time we are still looking into it.”

“He was the happiest person you could ever meet,” says Fougere. “He was always laughing, always happy-go-lucky, you know, go-go-go.”

Friends aren’t sure what happened, but they say crossing train tracks in a wheelchair is dangerous, and at this time, fatal.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis.

Source: Wade Perry/YouTube