Doctor killed by train while trying to save his patient

London: A Good Samaritan who was hit by a train and died was a doctor who was trying to save one of his own patients, it has been claimed.

The tragic man, said to be in his 70s, jumped onto railway tracks to pull the woman, in her 30s, to safety after seeing her fall from a bridge yesterday.

He began pulling at her in a desperate bid to drag her off the tracks as a speeding train approached, but he could not move her in time and the train hit both of them - killing him and seriously injuring the woman.

Locals have now revealed the man is thought to have been the woman's doctor and he had been treating her for a number of years.

Police refused to confirm whether the pair knew each other, but one Chartham resident, who did not want to be named but claimed to be a family friend of the woman, said: “I saw the lady in the middle of the track.

“I went and got her mum and left her with the police.

“This happened around 10.45am, her mum was obviously visibly upset.

“The victim was her doctor. He went to pick her up and take her to safety – he is a hero.”

The man died instantly at the scene in the Kent village of Chartham, while the woman survived with major injuries and was airlifted to hospital in London.

Shaken onlooker Michael Kember, 44, who gave a statement to police, said: "The lady had been on the bridge over the line and then jumped off it.

"She landed right between the rails where she was lying parallel between them.

"The man then jumped down and was trying to get her off. While he was doing that you could hear the electric rail buzzing meaning that the train was coming.

"You could hear the driver was sounding the horn and the brakes of the train were squealing.

"The man couldn't get her off and he was then trying to get to the end of the platform but did not make it and that was when the accident happened."

He added: "The bloke was a hero. It's just so unfortunate that this happened to someone trying to rescue another person.

"There was no way the driver could have stopped the train.

"It soon became very chaotic with people trying to help and the emergency services arriving. It was a real shaker."

The accident happened just before 11am today and involved the 10.22am Ramsgate to Charing Cross service, which was not due to stop at Chartham.

Through trains reach speeds of 70mph as they pass the station. Passengers on the train involved were delayed for nearly an hour as emergency services rushed to the scene.

They included Stephanie Karpetas, 53, from Deal, who said: "We were asked politely to stay calm until we could get off the train."

Fellow passenger Alan Glicksman, 63, from Broadstairs, said: "We felt a jolt. Suddenly the brakes came on hard.

"We didn't really know what had been hit until we saw all the paramedics that came onto the train.

"Until we actually got off the train we didn't know it had been a serious accident.

"The amount of hi-vis vests about is unbelievable. I just feel sorry for those involved."

South East Coast Ambulance sent three ambulances and three emergency vehicles to the scene plus the air ambulance. British Transport Police said the incident was not being treated as suspicious.

Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene and treated the woman before she was airlifted to King's College Hospital in London.

Police said a report will be prepared for the coroner and officers were working to contact the man's family.

The line was closed in both directions as investigations began and train operators Southeastern put on a replacement bus service.