In brief
A smoking break turned into a perilous adventure for a fare-dodging passenger in Germany who clung to the exterior of an ICE train after being left behind. While he survived the harrowing ride unhurt, he now faces legal repercussions for his reckless behavior.
In a bizarre incident on a German high-speed train, a 40-year-old Hungarian man clung to the outside of the ICE train when it departed from Ingolstadt while he took a smoking break. He had originally boarded the train in Munich without a valid ticket and decided to step out for a cigarette, only to realize too late that the train doors had closed behind him. In a desperate attempt to avoid being stranded, he leaped onto a bracket between two carriages, gripping cables as the train sped towards Nuremberg at speeds reaching 282 km/h (175 mph). Passengers on board alerted officials about the precarious situation, prompting federal police to intervene by halting the train approximately 30 kilometers away at Kinding in Upper Bavaria. The daring passenger reportedly left his luggage on the train and was unwilling to part with it. Miraculously, he emerged unharmed from the adrenaline-fueled experience. A state police officer traveling on the train found him and assisted him back inside before handing him over to federal authorities at Nuremberg central station. The Hungarian man is now under investigation for benefit fraud and will likely face consequences for his disruptive actions on the train, categorized as a minor administrative offense. Federal police have issued a cautionary message to the public, warning against dangerous stunts and risk-taking on Germany’s railway system.
