Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: CEN

Video Credit: CEN

This is the moment a young man is helped from the roof of a train after he received a 25,000-volt electric shock which burnt most of the clothes from his body.

Jose Fonseca, 20, suffered 70 percent burns when he touched overhead lines after climbing onto the roof of train, travelling between Argentina’s biggest seaside resort of Mar del Plata and the capital city of Buenos Aires, to avoid paying his fare.

Another passenger with a smartphone filmed railway workers helping the disorientated young man – whose trousers were in tatters and whose shirt had burned away altogether – down from the train.

Pictures Credit: CEN

Mr Fonseca is seen, with extensive areas of missing skin all over his body, sitting down by the railway tracks but, remarkably, he does not appear to lose consciousness.

He was later rushed by ambulance to Hospital Fiorito in the nearby city of Avellaneda where he is being treated for injuries to his head, neck, chest and arms.

A hospital spokesman said: “The patient is on a ventilator in the intensive care unit. He has 70 percent burns and is in a very serious condition.

“So far the specialist burns hospital in Buenos Aires cannot help him as they do not have a bed but we will request for him to be transferred again shortly.”

Mr Fonseca and a friend, Ciro Ferreyra, also 20, who was not injured, had reportedly climbed onto the roof of the train to avoid paying for their tickets.

Mr Ferreyra was taken to a nearby police station to help cops with their inquiries. He said the pair were between two carriages, climbing up onto the roof, when Mr Fonseca accidentally touched the wires. 

Rail operator Trenes Argentinos said the two young men had been in an area forbidden to passengers at the time of the incident which caused severe delays as it interrupted power supplies.