A teenage girl has died after her car stalled on a level crossing during her driving test and the examiner jumped out and left her to be hit by an oncoming train.
The 18-year-old, named only as Angelika by police, died in hospital but her examiner escaped unhurt and reportedly did nothing to help the girl as she lay dying in the wreckage, in the village of Zaskale in southern Poland.
The horrific accident was captured in the background of CCTV security camera footage from a workplace close to the railway lines.
The wreckage of the car the girl was driving, a red Suzuki Baleno, after it was hit by the train
It shows the red Suzuki Baleno come to a halt on the unmanned level crossing and the examiner jump out just before the train smashes into the car.
The 62-year-old man, whose name has not been released, got out after Angelika stalled the engine in the middle of the crossing and could not get it going again.
He was still walking away from the car when the train between the towns of Nowy Targ and Zakopane arrived and smashed into the vehicle, witnesses said.
Eyewitness Rafal Kwak, 40, said: ‘When we ran to the wreck, the girl was strapped in and the instructor stood nearby and did nothing.
‘I wanted him to give me a first aid kit but he couldn’t find it. She was still breathing, but she was very wheezy, she was getting weaker. She was disappearing before our eyes.’
Another witness, 39-year-old Michal, said: ‘The girl had a big head wound, her blood was everywhere, we tried to stop it. I heard her heavy breathing, fading in front of us.’
The wreckage of the car after it was smashed by the train as it sped through southern Poland
The crash was apparently captured in the background of CCTV footage with the car spotted on the road (left) before the train appears and smashes into the vehicle (right)
Another onlooker, who declined to be named, said: ‘The examiner escaped at the last minute, the girl, unfortunately, didn’t. She tried to move but was half a metre away from surviving, she was already starting to move the car.’
He added that the train driver had been sounding his horn for several seconds: ‘Then I saw the train pushing the car along the tracks in front of me.’
Angelika suffered multiple injuries and was rushed by ambulance to a hospital in Nowy Targ where she died later that day. The train driver and his passengers were unhurt.
An investigation into the accident has been launched by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Nowy Targ.