This is the terrifying moment a child becomes trapped between a train and a railway platform after falling through the gap.

Heartbreaking phone footage shows the boy – who appears to be about four years old – crying for help and looking for his mum.

A crowd of passengers at the Shanghai South Railway Station in east-central China gather around trying to guide the boy out.

In a video – shared on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok – the boy can be heard shouting (in Chinese): “Mum, you have to look for me!”

He walks up and down the narrow gap between the train and the high platform packed with anxious travellers.

Some of the passersby begin yelling (in Chinese): “A child fell!”

Others try to comfort the boy while waiting for help from railway workers.

After nearly 10 minutes the child was rescued and sent to hospital for treatment for scratches, local media reported.

It later emerged that the boy had been a passenger on a train arriving at the station.

As he looked up to watch grown-ups getting off he slipped down the gap and could not get out.

Shanghai Railway Station later urged passengers to take care of their children when they travel.

One Douyin user ‘Li Taibai’ said in a comment: “It looks very worrying. Always ask the railway staff to help.”