The incident happened on top a Eurostar train headed to London (Picture: AFP)
A man was electrocuted ‘in a ball of flame’ after climbing on to a train at the Eurostar railway station in Paris.
The victim, who has not been identified yet, was seen running across the tracks of platforms 12 and 13 at Gare du Nord just before 10pm on Thursday.
‘He got on to the roof of a Eurostar wagon that was motionless,’ an investigating source said.
‘He had earlier been seen crossing nearby tracks, not realising how dangerous the situation was.’
The tragedy was captured on CCTV from the Ile-de-France networks at the scene, according to Le Parisien.
The victim could be seen standing up before his body was engulfed in flames in a few seconds.
It is believed he was electrocuted by an overhead wire above the train headed to London.
‘He stood up, and then there was a ball of flame,’ said the source.
‘Emergency services were at the scene pretty much instantly, but they were unable to save the man, who was left unrecognisable.’
Firefighters extinguished the flames at 10.20pm, and the victim was pronounced dead within minutes.
Early police enquiries pointed to the man being an immigrant to France, who had been sleeping rough in Paris while working out how to get to the UK.
The Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the country and there are daily high speed rail services to London.
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