From Jiji.com:
Tokyo Metro: Woman Falls Onto Tracks And Is Mistaken For Bag, Station Worker Signals Train To Leave Without Checking, Woman Takes Shelter Under Track, Escapes Safely
On June 10, Tokyo Metro announced that on the evening of June 9 a woman who looked to be in her 20s fell onto the tracks at the Hibiya Line Roppongi Station, however the male station worker (20) overseeing the platform assumed that a bag had fallen, and allowed the train to depart without checking the tracks. The woman escaped to the space beneath the platform, and was unharmed.
According to Tokyo Metro, at around 9:25pm on June 9, when the woman had tried to get on the train she fell into the 25cm gap between the train and the platform edge. A woman accompanying her shouted “[she’s] fallen” in a loud voice, but without checking the station worker assumed that a bag had fallen onto the track. He explained to this woman that he would “pick it up afterwards” and indicated to the train to depart.
After the train had departed, the station worker brought a grabber and asked the woman “Where did it fall?”, when the woman replied “It was a person who fell”.
The station worker had joined Tokyo Metro in April, and had been posted at Roppongi station for around one and a half months.
Tokyo Metro statement: We offer our deepest apologies. We will thoroughly instruct the station worker involved.
Comments from 2ch.net:
ベンガルヤマネコ(やわらか銀行)：
A person fell onto the tracks, and he said “I’ll pick it up afterwards”? LMAO w
Is this a comedy sketch? w
ヨーロッパオオヤマネコ(大阪府)：
Isn’t the woman who was with her in the wrong?
Say “A person has fallen” from the very beginning!
エキゾチックショートヘア(東日本)：
You can’t really understand the situation just by hearing the station’s side of things.
If you heard if from the woman’s side, she probably said “A person has fallen”.
イエネコ(西日本)：
Had she not been able to take shelter then they’d have had a huge problem on their hands.
Wouldn’t that amount to murder?
マーゲイ(愛知県)：
It’ll be made into a film for sure.
シャルトリュー(関東・甲信越)：
The woman who was with her is the idiot.
Don’t fucking back down when you’re told it’ll be picked up later.
白(中部地方)：
What the hell is this article w
It’s just too funny…but had she gone one step wrong this would have been a fatal accident.
ヒョウ(兵庫県)：
／￣＼
| ^o^ | ＜ Where did the bag fall?
＼＿／
＿| |＿
| |
／￣＼
| | ＜ It was actually a person that fell.
＼＿／
＿| |＿
| |
Not bothered at all.
ウンピョウ(やわらか銀行)：
Sorry.
Really thought this was a gag.
エキゾチックショートヘア(東日本)：
I mean, he probably should have stopped the train moving off even if it was just an object on the track, so why did this newbie allow the train to depart without having checked first?
メインクーン(東京都)：
Even if it had been a bag, isn’t it weird that he allowed the train to depart? Huh?
I ride the metro every morning, and this is just too scary.
ヒョウ(東日本)：
I guess the story of this station worker is going to be handed down as a legend.
シャム(京都府)：
Anyway, I bet that she was fiddling about with her smartphone, and tried to get on the train without looking where she was going properly.
ハバナブラウン(兵庫県)：
It was a person who fell.
The station worker must have got chills down his spine when he was told that w
ペルシャ(大阪府)：
Couldn’t help laughing at “the grabber”
トンキニーズ(芋)：
Glad she could get into the shelter space beneath the platform.
Had she been unable to, she’d have been about to slowly run over by the train.
