Eyewitness reports indicate the two men killed after being hit by a train at Rotterdam Zuid station on Sunday evening may have committed suicide, police said on Monday.

Police have now identified the men but have not given any other information. ‘The likelihood of their deaths being suicide is primarily based on the combination of the men’s behaviour and solid eyewitness reports,’ a spokesman said.

Eyewitnesses told AD earlier the two men climbed onto the tracks and appeared to be daring each other about how long they could wait until a train reached them.

‘I saw someone lying between the rails with his arms close to his body,’ one witness told the paper. ‘A second person sat close to him, on the edge of the platform. It looked like a stunt, as if they were trying to see how close they would let the train get to them.’

The train tried to brake but hit the two men. Some 300 people were on board the train, which had arrived in Rotterdam from Dordrecht.

The incident took place at around 18.00 hours, over an hour after the end of the Ajax-Feyenoord football match. There were both football fans and ordinary passengers waiting in the station, the AD said.