Subway tragedy drives Beijing to near standstill

Hundreds of thousands of rush-hour commuters in Beijing scrambled for an alternative route to work Friday morning after a man in his 20s ended his life on the tracks of the city's subway, a tragedy that caused chaos on all six subway lines.

Jia Peng, a spokesman with the Beijing Subway Company, said the man jumped in front of a moving train on Line 1 at Nanlishilu station at 8: 25 am.

Passengers inside the westbound train had to pry open doors to get off the train and were told to take buses or taxis to complete their journeys.