Woman struck, killed by train in third track fatality this week

Investigators looked on as firefighters removed the body of a woman killed on the Orange Line at Sullivan Square yesterday. (GEORGE RIZER/GLOBE STAFF)

A woman was struck and killed by a train at the Sullivan Square T station in Charlestown yesterday morning, as a man hit the night before by a commuter train in Concord was identified as a mathematics professor at Clark University.

Yesterday's train fatality was the third one this week.

Arthur M. Chou, 53, of Wayland, was on the staff of the mathematics and computer science department at Clark, according to his resume posted on the school's website. He taught at the school since 1982.

"We are all deeply saddened to learn of the sudden and tragic loss of our colleague," David Angel, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said in a statement issued by the college. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family."

A woman who identified herself as Chou's wife when contacted by phone declined to comment.

Chou was in Concord near Walden Pond and was trespassing on T property when he was hit by a train from the Fitchburg line around 8:20 p.m., according to the MBTA.

Authorities in Middlesex and Suffolk counties said the two deaths are under investigation, but that they do not suspect foul play in either case. The woman's identity was withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Transit Police Lieutenant Salvatore Venturelli described the victim as a black woman believed to be in her 30s who had no identification with her. He said she died instantly.

Venturelli and Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said authorities were notified around 9:10 a.m. yesterday that a woman was trapped under a six-car train on the northbound side of the Orange Line. MacDonald said firefighters needed an hour to extricate her from beneath the train.

Venturelli said that Transit Police located one eyewitness and that the witness was being interviewed by detectives. He declined to say what information the witness had supplied to investigators.

He also said the train operator was being tested for drug or alcohol use, which is standard procedure for a transit employee involved with a fatality.

On Tuesday, Nicholas Scaringello, 15, was struck and killed by a commuter train in Roslindale. Transit Police have said that the teenager and a 15-year-old friend were walking along the tracks when they were surprised by an eastbound express near Bellevue Station in Roslindale. The other teen was uninjured.

John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.