Zoya Grigoryevna Panushkova

Railway station duty employee

Zoya Grigoryevna Panushkova is identified in a detailed Russian-language account as the duty employee at Novye Peski railway station during the Train 1702 Incident on February 17, 1985. She reportedly received a radio communication from locomotive driver Sergey Orlov and subsequently went outside as the train approached. The account attributes to her an observation of a luminous object near the station, including an unusual orange or red feature that was not described by the locomotive crew.