Eyewitnesses described the incident which saw a 70-year-old man hit by a train at Blackburn railway station as ‘shocking’.

Platform 1 was cordoned off when the man plunged on to the tracks and was struck by a Colne-bound train around 4pm yesterday.

The man was conscious and was breathing when they arrived, according to the ambulance service.

He was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital where his condition was last night described as ‘non life-threatening’.

Farhaan Zaroof, 20, from Nelson, said: “I was standing here and then saw a guy go off the platform and get hit.

"All the kids on the platform started screaming.

"I’m still in shock, and still feel sick."

A 22-year-old from Nelson, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I was looking down towards the tracks when the next thing I saw a guy there and he got hit by the train.

“It was shocking. I have never seen anything like that before. People were screaming.”

Farhaan Hussain, 20, who is studying at the University of Central Lancashire, said: “It was shocking.

"I’m devastated.”

An anonymous witness said: “A train hit him.

"He fell underneath and luckily he fell between the tracks.”