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Case · Japan

13-year-old looking at his phone falls onto subway tracks — and survives

In October 2014, a first-year junior high student at Gokiso Station on the Nagoya subway stepped forward while looking at his smartphone and fell onto the tracks. A train passed over the spot, but he took cover in the space under the platform and was unhurt.

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Gokiso Station on the Nagoya subway (2022, file photo)
Gokiso Station on the Nagoya subway (2022, file photo) Photo: 円周率３パーセント / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
When
Oct. 30, 2014, around 6:20 p.m.
Where
Gokiso Station, Tsurumai Line, Nagoya, Japan
Who
13-year-old junior high school boy
Outcome
Unhurt

Around 6:20 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2014, just before a train pulled into Gokiso Station on Nagoya's Tsurumai subway line, a 13-year-old first-year junior high student waiting at the front of the platform walked about a meter forward while looking at his screen and fell onto the tracks.

スマートフォンを操作していたら落ちてしまった

"I was using my smartphone and I fell." — the student, as quoted by the Nagoya transport bureau (Chunichi Shimbun, Oct. 30, 2014)

The driver hit the emergency brake, but the train ran about 30 meters past the spot before stopping. The boy took cover in the refuge space under the platform and was unhurt. The whole Tsurumai Line was briefly suspended.

What this case shows

He stepped forward after the arrival announcement, still looking at his screen. Even while waiting, feet move. On a platform, stand behind the yellow line and keep the phone away until the train stops.

Original reports

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