German anti-nuclear activists have held a vigil along the path of a train transporting nuclear waste after it killed a militant who had chained himself to the tracks. The train driver saw the protestor too late, and despite using the emergency brake, ran over a demonstrator’s leg. He died before reaching a hospital. The train is carrying 12 containers of nuclear waste back to Germany after reprocessing in France. The cargo, which left northern France on Saturday, is due to arrive in Gorleben in Lower Saxony today after several delays caused by protestors.

The 21-year old militant is the first victim in a decade of anti-nuclear protests. A spokesman for the environmental organisation Friends of the Earth said planned demonstrations would still go ahead despite the tragedy. Anti-nuclear protestors claim the reprocessed waste is unsafe.

Copyright © 2012 euronews