A man who escaped a gruesome death after fainting onto Sydney railway tracks as a train was hurtling towards him has been arrested after he was rushed to hospital.
The 57-year-old fell onto the tracks at Redfern Station’s underground platform on April 1, as harrowing footage has gone viral of the miraculous escape.
A hero commuter has been praised for risking her life to save the man and pull him out of harm’s way after he allegedly fainted and fell from the platform onto the tracks.
While staff jumped onto the tracks to help the man, he had been knocked unconscious and could not be moved.
However, they managed to avoid serious injury as a worker frantically waved to the train driver to stop the train.
Dramatic footage of the rescue was shared on social mxjmtzywedia by a stunned onlooker who revealed they had only two minutes until the train was due to arrive.
As the train sped through a blind corner into the station it slammed on the brakes and stopped just centimetres short of one woman and the elderly man – who both remained on the tracks.
The 57-year-old was rushed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital with injuries to his head and wrist.
According to Nine News, the man was questioned by police in hospital then arrested for breaching an apprehended violence order.
Transport Minister David Elliot said he was happy with the result from the train staff in saving the man’s life, but scolded the 57-year-old and warned him to be safer around trains.
“It was quite clear he was unsteady on his feet and that really isn‘t an excuse,” he said.
“If you are going to be using public transport … there is a risk associated with being around this sort of heavy machinery.”
Mr Elliot said the man had been “blatantly ignorant” about the situation he was in, but was “proud” of the people who responded.
Commuters and train station staff were praised for their actions after the video was circulated online.
“Those people who helped were really brave, good on them! That would be a terrifying situation, I can’t imagine,” one man wrote.
“I’m no expert on their safety procedures but I imagine a waving red flag means to stop immediately. Looks like a blind corner so that extra warning likely saved multiple lives,” another said.
Others were critical of the people who put themselves in danger by jumping onto the tracks to help the man.
“If that train didn’t stop in time and everyone on the platform was down there trying to help and got run over, you would all be whinging about what idiots they were,” one person said.
“The first rule of lifesaving is to look after yourself first. There are two people already assisting, risking more lives is not a smart thing to do,” another wrote.
“There are plenty of other onlookers doing nothing and it seems the person on the tracks may have a few issues other than just being on the tracks.”
