MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) – How far are you willing to go to catch a train? For a man who literally fell off the railway car in the Amur Region, the distance was seven kilometers (4.3 miles) – though he still never made it.
The unnamed passenger of the train, going from Moscow to the Yakutian city of Neryungri, just went for a smoke in the car’s vestibule, transport police in the far eastern region reported on Friday.
But when he leaned on the door, it turned out to be unlocked, the report said.
It was the last car in the train, so the man tumbled out onto the railway.
Though he was unhurt, the passenger found himself stranded in Siberian taiga at nighttime, wearing nothing but a T-shirt, sweats and slippers.
To avoid death by hypothermia – the thermometer stood at minus 40 degrees Celsius – he chased the train, police said.
He never caught up with it, but at least reached the station, which was a mere seven kilometers away – a trifle by the standards of the 450-kilometer-long Amur Yakutsk Mainline – where he received medical help.
No information was immediately available about the man’s health condition. Police launched an inquiry into the train conductor who left the door unlocked.