A 24-year-old Algerian man in Austria was caught between two carriages of the high-speed train he was on after it had stopped in Sankt Poelten and the young Algerian was smoking on the platform, resulting in him not being able to get back on time before the train continued its journey to Vienna from Zurich.
The Algerian passenger did not have time to smoke enough to finish the cigarette he lit on the platform before the train stopped in Sankt Poelten and was forced to bang on the windows of other passengers and grab onto the gap between two carriages of the train to avoid losing it. The train conductor activated the handbrake and an emergency stop was made to include the Algerian with the rest of the passengers until Vienna, where the train arrived 7 minutes late and the 24-year-old was taken away by the police.
“It’s irresponsible, these things usually end in death. And you’re not just putting yourself in danger; if you find yourself under the train, there are rescuers, police, firefighters who have to intervene and be held accountable,” said Herbert Hofer, a spokesman for the state-owned Austrian railways, after the Algerian passenger was given a stern reprimand by the train’s conductor.
A similar incident occurred in January, when a 40-year-old Hungarian man in Germany was caught in the gap between two carriages for 32 kilometers because he didn’t have time to smoke and finish the cigarette he lit before the train started moving.
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