The man, at around 20, who was waiting for the train at Xinzhuang Station on Shanghai's metro Line One at 7:30 am, suddenly slipped onto the rail while a train was arriving, a cleaner who had witnessed the scene said. A passenger sounded the alarm immediately, while the train rolled just over the man.

According to some passengers' description, the victim was pushed forward on the platform and lost balance, as he was standing in front of a big crowd during the commute hour.

He was immediately drawn out of the tunnel after the train stopped and rushed to hospital, with blood shed all over him.

It was not the first case of passengers injured or even killed by subway trains in Chinese cities. On September 29, 2004 in Beijing, a man lost both legs after falling onto the rail and injured by the train; two passengers were killed under the train at two subway stations respectively in Beijing in October, 2006. Similar tragedies have also taken place In Shanghai and Nanjing, prompting concerns of safety in underground stations and calls for more effective security measures.

On Beijing and Shanghai's old subway lines, stations currently have no protective screens separating passengers from the rail tunnel. Hundreds of kilometres of new lines under construction will all be equipped with the facility, and some of the outdated stations will be innovated, according to Xinhua.