An emergency paramedic had to crawl beneath a railway engine to save a man by amputating his trapped leg.

The victim, aged 26, had lost one leg and the other was seriously damaged when he fell beneath the engine as it pulled into Plymouth Station.

Ambulanceman Mark Sheehan, 47, who was on the scene within five minutes, crawled beneath the train and had to use a scalpel to amputate the partially severed leg below the knee.

A second ambulanceman, Ray McFadden, 52, knelt by the track and gave the patient morphine and oxygen as Mr Sheehan worked under the train itself for almost an hour. They stayed with the victim even when the driver moved the locomotive in an attempt to free the trapped leg.

The man’s right leg was cut off in the initial accident and the train’s wheels cut through the bone of the left leg but not the muscle.

The victim, who has not been named, remained conscious throughout the 55-minute rescue and was lifted back on to the platform with the help of four more paramedics and two fire crews.

He is believed to have been standing on the platform as the 7.34pm London to Penzance train was pulling in. British Transport Police say they are treating the incident as a potential suicide attempt.

Lynne Paramor, a South West Ambulance Service spokeswoman, said: “It was a truly amazing rescue in which our lads were able to deliver in very difficult and dangerous conditions. The crew was there within a minute of the call.

“We carry all sorts of equipment in the ambulance including specialist tourniquets and scalpels. Mark used a scalpel to amputate the leg to free him. He had to work under the train and very quickly because it was a life or death situation. The patient would have been dead if we had not got him out from under the train and to hospital for emergency treatment.

“At one point the driver had to move the train forward a few inches to help free the patient and Mark and Ray carried on working underneath it.

“It was very difficult for them, especially at that point because of the noise and dust from the engine. They risked their own lives by working under the engine as it was moving.”

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