Footage of the terrifying moment a man fainted on a subway platform onto the train tracks has been released, showing how bystanders rushed to stop the train and pulled him to safety.
The man is seen tumbling forward onto the tracks at Wynyard Station in Sydney just minutes before a train was due to arrive at the platform on Monday afternoon. The fall left him lying unconscious on the tracks.
An emergency call was made over the two-way radio to tell staff someone had fallen on the track, while a customer service officer on the platform wearing an orange high-vis jacket made the emergency stop signal to the train driver, 7 News reports.
Fellow commuters are then seen jumping down onto the tracks to rescue the man, who received mild injuries and a cut to the head during the ordeal.
Rob Austin of Sydney Trains told the broadcaster the train pulled up “very quickly” at the end of the platform in this incident, but reminded passengers of the risk of trying to help in such dangerous situations.
“We understand its human nature to want to help someone who’s been injured, but jumping on a live track is incredibly dangerous and an injury to one person could very quickly become an injury to more,” he said.
Despite the danger, previous incidents of people falling onto train tracks have seen passengers leap to their rescue.
Last year a blind man fell onto the London tube tracks as a train was approaching, but was pulled from the tracks to safety.
