Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
The ‘hero’ teens who jumped on train tracks to stop a man from killing himself have explained what they were thinking in the moment.
Mates Freddie Corbett, 15, and Harley Hollingworth, 16, spotted a bloke in a sleeping bag on a train station platform in South Yorkshire.
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But with just the two lads and two young women around, the man then walked towards the tracks before saying: “I’m going to kill myself tonight.”
The pair previously appeared on This Morning to discuss what happened last month after Freddie noticed the man in a ‘bad state’.
His ‘heart dropped’ when he realised what he was going to do and instantly jumped onto the tracks at Bolton-upon-Dearne station to save him.
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At first, Harley didn’t see where his friend had gone because he was distracted by his phone and Freddie then didn’t want him to risk jumping down too.
The 15-year-old described what was going through his mind when he got onto the tracks: “I was just like ‘I can’t let him die, I’m putting myself at risk but it’s not just him and it’s not just me - it’s the train driver and everyone on the train’. People can be traumatised and it just ruins people’s lives.
“And obviously everyone deserves a second chance at life.”
With a train approaching, Freddie said it was just a ‘natural instinct’ and you ‘don’t think’ in that kind of situation.
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“You’ve just got to do it, can’t think, you’ve just go to do it,” he explained.
Harley’s dad also appeared on the sofa as he described it as a ‘shock’ and moment of ‘instant fear’ when he found out what had happened.
But the next morning it began to sink it what his son and friend had done and now he just keeps ‘getting prouder and prouder and prouder’.
With his mate jumping down to help him, host Josie Gibson asked Freddie if he felt like a hero, but he replied: “I didn’t think it were as big as what other people thought, it was just another day. I’d do it again, in a heartbeat. Every single time.”
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After the pair had saved the man, who is now getting support, the teen said his own ‘heart were in bits’ and ‘tears were falling down his face’.
A Network Rail worker took to X to share the lads’ incredible bravery as he praised them for saving the man’s life and encouraged people to ‘buy them a J2O’.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.
Topics: Mental Health, This Morning, UK News
Jess Battison