A man in Austria has survived clinging to the outside of a high-speed train after it departed while he was having a cigarette on the platform. The incident occurred late on Saturday at St Poelten, west of Vienna, according to Austrian railways spokesperson Herbert Hofer.
The 24-year-old Algerian man grabbed onto the space between two carriages as the Railjet train began to move. He then banged on windows to attract attention, prompting the conductor to activate the emergency brake. Train crew brought him aboard, and he was later led away by police upon arrival at Vienna's Meidling station.
Hofer condemned the man's actions, stating, “It is irresponsible, this kind of thing usually ends up with someone dying. And you’re not just putting yourself in danger, if you end up under the train there’s rescuers, there’s police, fire service that come.”
The train, travelling from Zurich to Vienna, arrived with a seven-minute delay. Railjet trains have a maximum speed of 230 km/h, but it is unclear how fast the train was moving while the man clung to it. A similar incident occurred in January when a 40-year-old Hungarian man survived clinging to a German high-speed train for 32 km after a cigarette break.
