Saudi man killed after saving wife and children in Austria train crash

Man's other child, 4, died with his father in the accident at the Eiger crossing in St Johann

Austrian police examine the crossing where a Saudi man and his child were killed on Wednesday when a train collided with their car. Photo: @AlShareef700 / Twitter

A Saudi man and his 4-year-old child were killed when a train struck their car at a railway crossing in Austria’s Tyrol region.

The man extricated his wife and two other children, aged 7 and 11, from their car after it became stuck at the crossing.

However, the train struck as he was trying to remove the infant from a baby seat, a relative said on Twitter.

“God, one of my relatives and his son (four years old), passed away in an unfortunate accident in Austria, after a train collided with their car that got stuck on its way," Muhammad Al Sharif wrote on Twitter on Friday following the accident on Wednesday. "The father succeeded in getting his wife and two children out, then returned, to get the child out, and upon his return to take out his 4-year-old child, who was on the baby-seat inside the vehicle, the train collided with the vehicle, which resulted in the death of the citizen and his child."

The child died soon after being taken to a hospital in the town of St Johann, while the father succumbed to his injuries later, Austrian police said on Thursday.

According to media reports, the 35-year-old man was on holiday with his family.

The car was stuck at the Eiger crossing in St Johann, in the west of Austria. It was hit by a train coming from the town of Kitzbuhel, the Saudi daily Okaz daily reported.