DANGERS OF SMOKING

Passenger Left Dangling From High-Speed Train in Smoking Break Disaster

A wayward traveler clung to the outside of a train after it pulled away during a smoke break.

A man who clung to the outside of a high-speed train after it departed a station while he was having a cigarette break has miraculously survived. The unidentified man grabbed onto the outside of the train as it pulled out of a station about 35 miles west of Vienna, Austria, and wedged himself in the space between two carriages. It is unknown how far he traveled on the train, which can reach top speeds of over 140 mph, before his bangs on the windows alerted passengers, and the train’s conductor ordered an emergency stop. “The conductor really had a very big go at him,” a passenger told Austrian news outlet Heute. A railway spokesperson told AFP, “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 man, a 24-year-old of Algerian descent, was led away by police after the train arrived at Vienna’s Meidling station.