Boy dies after he and mother are pushed onto train tracks in Frankfurt, Germany

Samantha Lock The Sun

Tragedy struck as a high-speed train was pulling into the platform, with the boy dying while his mum managed to roll into a narrow gap between tracks, The Sun reports.

Police spokeswoman Isabell Neumann said the mother was able to escape but the boy was fatally hit and died from his injuries.

A 40-year-old migrant from Eritrea, Africa, fled the scene with passers-by in pursuit at around 10am. He had been living in Switzerland since 2006.

He was arrested shortly after near the station and questioned by police but his motive remains unclear.

The man tried to push a third person onto the track but was unable to overpower them, BILD reported.

Neumann said there appeared to be no connection between the suspect and the victims.

The boy’s mother was taken to a hospital.

There was no immediate information on her injuries.

Dramatic scenes unfolded in the station hall with 16 ambulances and a helicopter on site.

One witness who was sitting in an incoming train from Dusseldorf told German publication Hennenscha commuters “collapsed”.

“The people broke down howling,” the witness said.

Another said the train station was full of children.

The unnamed boy is the second person to die after being pushed onto railway track in Germany in two weeks.

On July 20, a 34-year-old woman was pushed in front of a regional train at Voerde station in North Rhine-Westphalia.

She died from her injuries.

A 28-year-old man is in custody on suspicion of her murder.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished here with permission.