Civil courage in Vienna

Fallen drunk man rescued from S-Bahn tracks

The witness took a photo of the successful rescue operation on the platform.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg)

A drunk man had two very special guardian angels at Hadersdorf station in Vienna-Penzing a few days ago. The 50-year-old had been drinking too much and had fallen onto the tracks. Before the S-Bahn arrived, two witnesses managed to rescue the injured man and stop the train. 

Sometimes you're just in the right place at the right time. That's probably what a 50-year-old man will think, at least in hindsight. On July 4, at around 7 p.m., the man was staggering around drunk on the platform at Hadersdorf station in the far west of Vienna. And lost his balance. He fell so badly onto the tracks that he lay dazed on them with a head wound.

Witness ran towards the arriving train
Two men - said to be employees of the nearby Hadersdorf-Weidlingauer Bad - reacted with presence of mind. As the S50 S-Bahn train was due to arrive in one to two minutes, according to eyewitness Roman, who then contacted the "Krone", one of them ran towards the train, which weighed several tons, to draw attention to the accident at the station. Meanwhile, the other man heaved the injured man off the tracks and back onto the platform. 

"Onlooker" with an unnecessary rant
The train was slowed down at the last moment, the train driver got off and helped to treat the injured man before the Green Cross arrived. According to professional rescuers, the casualty had consumed six to seven beers before he fell. Among all the civil courage, however, there was also an uproar about an "onlooker" who is said to have repeatedly asked the train driver to finally move on and let people get off. "Normally, people like that should be fined heavily," said eyewitness Roman.