A Chinese man was crushed to death yesterday between an approaching high-speed train and a railway platform as he tried to run across the railway tracks.

The man died at the scene after struggling to pull himself out from the tiny gap.

Authorities are investigating the incident and are yet to reveal why the man had decided to run across the tracks. However, social media users believed the man had got to the wrong platform and wanted to catch his train with the fatal attempt.

The Chinese man was stuck in the tiny gap between a high-speed train and a railway platform

The man has not been identified by media, but he is reported to be in his 30s.

He was stuck between train D3026, which pulled into Nanjing South Railway Station, and platform number 22.

The bullet train runs between Shanghai and Wuhan.

A video uploaded on People's Daily Online captured the moment when the man was trapped in the tiny gap between the train and the platform.

In another video on Chinese social media, the man appeared at first to beat the approaching high-speed train, but ended up getting crushed by the locomotive when he tried to lift himself onto the platform.

He did not get up in time and his midriff was crushed between the train and the platform.

The man died at the scene yesterday after rescuers had failed to free him from the gap at Nanjing South Railway Station

According to witnesses, the victim remained conscious and struggled to free himself from the gap until the authorities were called to rescue him, reported local newspaper Jinling Evening News.

Police officers and firefighters tried to keep him awake and conscious during the rescue effort by continuously shouted 'young man, wake up' at him.

However, he eventually lost consciousness and was pronounced dead.

Firemen removed his body by breaking apart the concrete platform and creating enough space to pull him from the gap.

The Chinese high-speed train (pictured) runs on an average speed of 300kmh (220 mph)

The accident occurred at Nanjing South Railway Station (pictured), a new and popular train station in eastern China

Nanjing South Railway Station released a statement at around 7pm yesterday confirming the incident.

The statement said that the incident had occurred at 3:43pm local time and that the man had been stuck between the first carriage of the train and platform 22.

Nanjing authorities are investigating the case, according to the statement.

The bullet train, named 'He Xie Hao', was first introduced in 2007 and runs on an average speed of 300kmh (220 mph).