As someone who casually used the DC Metro on and off for some ten years, I think it's safe to say that we've all had Metro-related nightmares before. A lot of people lived theirs a few months ago when the metro got stuck underground and filled with smoke, injuring dozens and killing one victim. Yet another shiver-inducing incident took place yesterday, when two men jumped to save a man in a wheelchair who had fallen into the train tracks in the U Street metro station in Washington, D.C. The whole thing was caught on surveillance tape, and it will basically make your heart leap into your throat.
This past Tuesday, around 1:30PM, the 54-year-old man was driving his wheelchair toward the platform edge when he suddenly fell onto the train tracks below. Bystanders reacted immediately, with one man jumping in to help and another man following suit to pull both him and the wheelchair out of the tracks.
Fortunately there wasn't another train coming for a full five minutes, and the victim ended up with nothing more major than a few cuts and bruises. Still, DC Metro employees warn that if something similar happens again, bystanders should tell an attendant before jumping in after someone. There's a powered third rail that has the potential to fatally electrocute people on the tracks, and all three of the men involved were lucky to have missed it.
Here's the full video of the rescue below:
