Girl's miracle escape under train

Jan 17 2007 By Emma Cullwick, Birmingham Mail

A TEENAGER miraculously escaped with her life today when she was Jan 17 dragged 50 feet by a moving train in Birmingham.

The 16 year-old girl fell between platform and train while apparently having a fit.

Ambulance chiefs said the girl, from Erdington, was lucky to have survived and escaped with relatively minor injuries, including a fractured cheek, bruised head, grazed hip and friction burns to her knee.

The girl's horrified friends and workers waiting for their trains looked on in horror as the youngster was dragged helpless along the track.

Train staff quickly raised the alarm and an air ambulance from Shropshire was called while paramedics dashed to the scene of the incident at Erdington train station, at 9.51am.

A spokesman for West Ambulance Service, explained: "The girl was standing on the platform with friends, but as the train pulled in to the station she suddenly had a fit and fell head-first between the platform and the train.

"The train was travelling at around 20mph and it dragged her along the track for at least 50 feet."

Distraught staff and members of the public raced to her rescue, pulling her off the track while the girl, believed to suffer from epilepsy, was still having a fit.

Clinical Support Officer Tim Hughes, of West Midlands Ambulance Service, who was at the scene, said: "This young lady had a very, very close shave.

"Had this happened at many other stations, the outcome could have been completely different.

"This particular station has a bigger gap between the train and the platform than others in Birmingham, which undoubtedly saved her life."

Crew from the air ambulance left the scene shortly after arrival and the teenager was taken by ambulance to City Hospital, in Dudley Road, where she was believed to be recovering today.