French teen sleeping on rail tracks unharmed

[John Ashworth]

French teen sleeping on rail tracks unharmed by passing train

A French teenager who was enjoying a deep sleep between rail tracks escaped injury when a high-speed train passed over him.

Telegraph.co.uk
By Our Foreign Staff
Published: 10:08PM BST 13 Sep 2009

Police said that the driver of the TGV train between Paris and Quimper in Brittany noticed the 19-year-old man lying stretched out on his stomach between the rails as the train approached him close to the western town of Vannes.

But the train was moving too fast to stop and continued for a further 900 yards before finally halting after it had passed right over the man.

The driver left the train and checked out the teenager, who he found to be unhurt.

But the man could not be woken and was taken by firemen to hospital in Vannes.

Police said they hoped for an explanation about what happened when the young man regains consciousness.

The teenager who is from the area had a ticket in his pocket for a music festival which finished in the early hours on Sunday.