WATCH: Subway Passengers Rush To Help Man Who Jumps On Railway Tracks

CCTV footage released by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) authorities shows San Francisco commuters coming together to save the life of a man who had fallen onto the subway tracks Wednesday.

The footage initially shows a calm and composed atmosphere on the platform at Civic Center Station at around 4:43 p.m. local time (7:43 p.m. EDT), as one train leaves and commuters wait patiently for the next to arrive.

However, the scene turned chaotic when one of the waiting passengers discovered a man lying on the railway tracks, the footage shows.

The man is seen running along the length of the platform, wildly flailing his arms in the direction of the East Bay-bound BART train, which was fast approaching the station.

Soon many of the other commuters joined him, and an array of hands went up in the air signalling for the train to stop.

Luckily, the train operator understood that something was wrong and hit the emergency brakes just in time. The train came to a halt just as it entered the platform.

According to eyewitnesses, they saw a man his 20s, who appeared to be dizzy, fall on the tracks moments before the train was scheduled to arrive. However, BART officials later stated the man deliberately made his way onto the tracks as his actions clearly demonstrated he knew what he was doing.

“He was standing there on the track for quite some time and then lay down,” BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost told the San Francisco Chronicle. According to the New York Post, a BART official confirmed the man in question was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

“We want to thank all the involved riders and the train operator for responding quickly and taking proactive steps to make sure the person on the tracks survived,” BART added in a statement.

Whether it was a case of attempted suicide is yet to be ascertained, it was reported that there has been a steady decrease in subway suicides over the years in the U.S.

According to data obtained by the Post, between 2010 and 2012, there were a total of 153 deaths by subway trains — and 78 of them were believed to be suicides.

In 2010 alone, 35 out of 51 fatalities in subways were ruled suicides.

On the other hand, the number of people killed by subway trains dipped to 48 last year, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

Of the total deaths, 29 were alleged suicides, DNA Info reported.

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said one of the reasons for the number of subway deaths going down could be the efforts made by the authorities to spread awareness about following safety protocols at all times.

“We have various public information campaigns warning customers to stay away from platform edges and I think customers are heeding that warning,” Ortiz said, DNA Info reported.