Man is run over by NYC subway train but walks away unhurt

NEW YORK -- A man is lucky to be alive after jumping onto subway tracks to retrieve his cellphone, CBS New York reported.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the incident took place Tuesday morning at the East 105th Street L train station in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The train hit the brakes and passed over the man, who apparently managed to lie down in the gap between the tracks.

After the train stopped, the man emerged from the tracks and made his way out of the station, unhurt.

"We can't say it enough. You should never, ever under any circumstances go onto the tracks to retrieve anything," MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz told 1010 WINS. "Your life is certainly much more important than a cellphone."

According to the agency, 53 people were killed last year by subway trains.

"In essence, those trains can come at you very quickly," Ortiz said. "What most people don't understand is that often it's very difficult to climb back onto the platform from the tracks."

Ortiz said the man was very lucky, since different parts of the subway system have different clearances in the spaces between the tracks.