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Woman is rescued after falling onto subway tracks in Spain

January 22, 2013|By Lauren Frayer

MADRID -- Security cameras captured a harrowing moment at a subway station in Spain when a 51-year-old woman fainted and fell onto the tracks.

Fellow passengers standing on the platform motioned to the driver of an approaching train to stop and an off-duty police officer ran along the tracks and dragged the unconscious woman across to the opposite side, video released by police Tuesday shows.

An off-duty doctor also happened to be in the station and revived the woman once she was hoisted onto the opposite platform. She was later treated at a hospital for minor injuries. 

The incident, which lasted less than a minute, took place just before 2 p.m. local time Monday, inside Madrid's Marqués de Vadillo metro station.

The video went viral on Spanish news sites and social media.

"I heard a thud and the scream of a woman," the 38-year-old officer behind the rescue, identified only as Rubén A.G., told the El País newspaper. "It wasn’t even a case of her having two minutes to spare. There were just 80 meters to spare," he said, referring to the oncoming train.

"When I picked her up she was a completely dead weight," he was quoted as saying.

Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz phoned the police officer to thank him for his efforts.


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