VIENNA — A 24-year-old man in Austria barely escaped death after clinging to the exterior of a high-speed train when it departed while he was taking a cigarette break, according to the state railway ÖBB.

The incident occurred late on Saturday at St Pölten, west of Vienna, when the Railjet service bound for the Austrian capital from Zurich began to move off.

The man reportedly leapt into the gap between two carriages as the train departed.

Passengers said the man drew attention to himself by banging on the train’s windows, prompting the conductor to press on the emergency brake.

Crew members then brought him inside. The train, which can reach speeds of up to 230km/h, arrived in Vienna seven minutes behind schedule.

According to Austrian newspaper Heute, a passenger said that the “conductor really had a very big go at him.”

The individual was taken into police custody upon arrival at Vienna’s Meidling station. He remains under investigation.

The Austrian railway company condemned the act as extremely dangerous, warning that such behaviour often results in fatalities and endangers emergency responders as well as the individual involved.

The episode is reminiscent of a case earlier this year in Germany, where a Hungarian man survived holding onto a high-speed train for more than 30 kilometres after it departed before he had finished smoking. — Euronews