Firefighters from Brentwood took part in a daring and carefully carried out rescue after a woman slipped and fell underneath a train at Shenfield Station.
The woman, in her mid 50s, fell from platform three just as a train was pulling into the station.
Miraculously the wheels of the train did not hit her and it sailed over the top of her body as she was left lying in the middle of the tracks.
A spokesman for Brentwood Fire Station said: "She is incredibly lucky."
When the train, coming from London, came to a stop the woman was trapped underneath towards the rear of the carriages.
The fire and rescue service were called and two engines from Brentwood and one from Ongar were joined by a rescue tender from Grays to try and help the woman, who had suffered back injuries in the fall.
Because of the seriousness of the injuries the fire fighters and paramedics felt it would not be wise to risk moving the woman from where she was so instead attempts were made to move the train away from where she was lying.
Two brave firemen and a paramedic crawled under the train to where the victim was and held her still and kept her calm while the train was slowly moved away from over her at no more than a walking pace.
The spokesman for Brentwood Fire said: "It was very difficult to get to the woman because of where she was and we decided it would not be safe to risk moving her because we could not be sure of her injuries.
"So we took the decision to drive the train very slowly along the track until the woman was free. Two firemen and a paramedic were under the train with her while this happened to keep her still and make sure she did not panic. Once she was released she was taken to hospital for treatment to her injuries."
The incident took place at around 8.15pm on Wednesday, July 23. The rescue operation took between 20 and 30 minutes and trains were running about an hour after the woman fell.
A spokesman for First Great Eastern said: "It reminds us how we must urge all our customers to be very careful when at a train station."
Published Friday, August 1, 2003
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