World News for Students of English

12-06-2014 15:00

This is the moment a soldier ran onto a railway track into the path of an oncoming train to rescue a woman who had fallen onto the tracks.

The man was standing on the opposite platform at Strood station when he saw the pensioner run for her train and fall. He then jumped down and ran over to the other side, narrowly missing the passing train.

The paratrooper managed to reach the woman and lifter her onto the platform, jumping up just moments before the train hurtled towards them, slamming on its brakes just yards (metres) away.

Captured on the incoming train’s camera, people can be seen rushing along the platform trying to flag it down, looking back as it approaches.

Rail operator Southeastern Trains has now launched a full investigation into the incident.

Difficult words: oncoming (coming up), paratrooper (soldier who is trained to jump out of a plane using a parachute), slam on the brakes (to make a vehicle stop very suddenly), flag something down (signal to a vehicle to stop).

Source: www.itn.co.uk