Woman is rescued after falling onto subway tracks in Spain

MADRID — Security cameras captured a harrowing moment at a subway station in Spain when a 51-year-old woman fainted and fell onto the tracks.
Fellow passengers standing on the platform motioned to the driver of an approaching train to stop and an off-duty police officer ran along the tracks and dragged the unconscious woman across to the opposite side, video released by police Tuesday shows.
An off-duty doctor also happened to be in the station and revived the woman once she was hoisted onto the opposite platform. She was later treated at a hospital for minor injuries.
The incident, which lasted less than a minute, took place just before 2 p.m. local time Monday, inside Madrid’s Marqués de Vadillo metro station.
The video went viral on Spanish news sites and social media.
«I heard a thud and the scream of a woman,» the 38-year-old officer behind the rescue, identified only as Rubén A.G., told the El País newspaper. «It wasn’t even a case of her having two minutes to spare. There were just 80 meters to spare,» he said, referring to the oncoming train.
«When I picked her up she was a completely dead weight,» he was quoted as saying.
Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz phoned the police officer to thank him for his efforts.