Man loses leg saving old woman's life

An heroic man tragically lost a leg during the courageous act of saving an old woman from certain death on a dangerous railway line.

The brave man, surnamed Xu, from southwest China's Chongqing City, almost paid the ultimate sacrifice in preserving the life of the 68-year-old woman along the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway on July 6. Fortunately, he escaped with his own life but misfortune still fell heavy on him.

Xu was the station attendant at the railway's Rongchang section on the day. And as a surveillance video shows, he was on the rear of the train monitoring the railway facilities at 3:51pm.

Suddenly, an old woman, surnamed Cai, appeared on the rail track, just four or five meters in front of the train traveling at 12 kilometres an hour. The woman froze in the middle of the track as the oncoming train pressed ever so dangerously closer. Xu pressed the train's emergency cut-off button, screamed and set of the alarm to warn the woman of the danger. Despite all of this she remained frozen to the spot.

Xu immediately sprung from the train and pulled the woman clear from danger and the track. Unfortunately, Xu got his right leg crushed by the train and had to have it amputated. Cai, meanwhile, who suffers from deafness, escaped with only minor scratches.