Child narrowly avoids death after mum lets her walk on train tracks

This is the dramatic moment a ten-year-old girl narrowly avoided death after her mum helped her climb down on to the train tracks in front of an oncoming train.

The terrifying video shows the mother and child, reported to be Bolivian, climb down on to the tracks at the busy station in Buenos Aires.

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Just moments later the mum spots the train and jumps back on to the platform - but her daughter doesn't have time.

The train speeds into the station and crowds rush over to see what happened to the youngster.

Miraculously, she survived, and avoided the train entirely by squeezing herself into a tiny alcove by the platform wall.

It is believed the mother had been trying to walk along the track with her daughter in order to avoid having to go through the ticket barriers.

The terrifying footage was captured on CCTV cameras at the station of Liniers, in the General Sarmiento area of the Argentine capital.

A railway company official is quoted on Italian website scuolazoo.com as saying: "Here it is normal for people to try and avoid paying for a ticket.

"But it isn't as common for a mother to leave her daughter on the tracks."

If the girl had hesitated for just a second, or if she had tried to run to the other side of the tracks, she would have been hit by the train.

She was also extremely lucky to avoid electrocution by the 830 volt current that reportedly runs along the tracks.