Miracle Survivor Story: Woman Falls in Front of Train and Survives

Nov. 11, 2009— -- The conductor of a Bostonsubway train that nearly ran over a woman on the tracks told "Good Morning America" that she credits the people waving at her from the platform with saving the woman's life.

"I personally want to thank all of those people who were on the platform, because they made it possible," Charice Lewis, the train operator, told "GMA."

Sophia Hartegan, a 26-year-old scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, was standing on the North Station platform Friday night. Hartegan had reportedly been drinking and video from a surveillance camera showed her topple onto the tracks near the electrified third rail with an oncoming train only seconds away.

People on the platform frantically waved at the conductor, who quickly threw the emergency break and abruptly stopped the train. The woman crawled out with only a few scratches.

"I just prayed for the best," Lewis said. "And when she came out, she came out crawling, and she gave me a smile."

Bill Lynch was standing on the platform when he saw Hartegan fall.

"Get up, get up," Lynch said he told Hartegan. "There was nothing else I thought I could do, I didn't know if she was living or dying at the point."

Because Hartegan was lying down, Lewis could not see her. But it was Lynch who got the conductor's attention and helped stop the train.

"That particular gentleman is who I was paying attention to because to me, from where I was coming, it looked as though he could possibly fall in, and that made me slow my train down even more," Lewis said.