Man SURVIVES clinging onto train 'after it left as he had cigarette'

A man has survived clinging to the outside of a high-speed train in Austria after 'it started leaving as he popped out for a cigarette'.

The 24-year-old grabbed onto the outside of the train at St Pölten, west of Vienna, on Saturday, Herbert Hofer, a spokesperson for Austria's state railway, has said.

Departing from Zurich, Switzerland, the railjet train was bound for the Austrian capital when the shocking incident occurred.

The Algerian national had initially disembarked the train to take advantage of a planned stop in St Pölten to have a cigarette break, a passenger onboard the train told Austrian tabloid Heute.

He then is said to have made a quick-thinking decision to jump into the space between two carriages after the train began to set off, desperately clinging on as it moved at high speed.