Girl lives as train runs over her

A young girl who stepped on to the tracks at an east London station survived when a 60mph train hurtled over her.

The driver was convinced he had killed the child - believed to be about six years old - but she escaped death by millimetres.

Rail chiefs, who described the incident as a "thousand to one" escape, are trying to trace the family of the girl, who fled immediately afterwards.

Rush-hour passengers at Forest Gate saw the girl, who was with a woman believed to be her mother, drop her doll on the Essex-bound line. She then sat on the edge of the platform and lowered herself down to the track.

Almost immediately onlookers saw the train, which was not due to stop, bearing down on her at what one later described as "terrifying speed".

With no time to lift her clear, passengers screamed at the terrified child to get down. She did so seconds before the eight-car train reached her. The driver braked desperately but the train thundered over her. Then, to the astonishment of commuters, the girl stood up unharmed and walked away.

A First Great Eastern (FGE) spokesman said: "The passengers screamed at her to lie flat. The train was about to go straight through the station. Thank God she followed their instructions, as the train was seconds away. The shouted warnings undoubtedly helped save her life." Only the 315 model operated by FGE has enough clearance space to allow a small child to lie beneath it, the spokesman said. "If it had been one of our two other models there wouldn't have been enough clearance under the train. She would have been killed."

The driver of the 9.03 Liverpool Street to Shenfield service approaching the station at about 9.20am last Monday thought two children - actually the girl and her doll - were on the track. The FGE spokesman said: "He was convinced he had gone over at least one child and was absolutely distraught."

Witnesses told British Transport Police that the girl disappeared immediately after the incident, accompanied by the woman and two or three other children. Police have been unable to trace them since and a spokesman said: "It is glaringly obvious that this was an extremely dangerous situation for a child to be in. The girl could so easily have died."

A Railtrack spokeswoman said the woman should have been properly supervising the child. "It was an extremely foolish act to allow a child on to the track," she said.

Over the year up to April - the most recent period for which figures are available - eight children were killed on railways in the UK. Most of them had trespassed on the line.

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