Hero ex-soldier who grabbed man before he could plummet 35ft to his death at London Bridge station says: 'Anyone would do the same'
- Fijian-born Francis Tuinasakea, a keen rugby player, dragged the man down from the wall at the station as he attempted to clamber over it
- He then hauled the man back to safety during incident at London Bridge
- 31-year-old said army instincts kicked in as he stopped man scaling wall
A heroic former British army soldier who sprinted across the tracks and stopped a man plummeting 35ft to his death at London Bridge has said 'anyone else would have done the same.'
Fijian-born Francis Tuinasakea, a keen rugby player, dragged the man down from the wall at the station as he attempted to clamber over it.
The cable worker, 31, then hauled the man back to safety during the dramatic incident at the station.
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Fijian-born Francis Tuinasakea, a keen rugby player, dragged the man down from the wall at the station as he attempted to clamber over it
The Fijian-rugby player and ex-soldier ran after the man when he sprinted across the tracks
The ex-British soldier said his army instincts kicked in as he dramatically dragged the man to the ground
Mr Tuinasakea was working on the night shift when he spotted the man running across railway lines - which are 750 volts - from platform ten to platform one.
The muscular Fijian, who lives in Kent, told the London Evening Standard: 'If he had touched one of the lines he would have been gone.
'Before he got to the last line I dragged him across and pinned him down.
'When I let him go so he could explain himself he just ran towards the wall where there is a big drop.'
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Video footage showed the man running off and then scaling the wall as one man shouts 'where you going? Don't jump over there. Get him Francis!'
Mr Tuinasakea, who played rugby at inside centre for Old Merchant Taylors', said: 'I tried to grab his T-shirt but it was tight so I couldn't and then I managed to grab his trousers and pull him off.
'He was shouting and I just said "I am not going to let you do that" - I did not want him to hurt himself.'
The agitated young man attempted to jump over a wall which had a 35ft drop on the other side
The 31-year-old said his army instincts kicked in as he dramatically dragged the man to the ground.
He said: 'I think that was part of it because I trained as an infantry soldier and we had training about how to respond to that sort of situation, so I reacted quickly.
'I was not really thinking, until after. Then I thought to myself "s*** he could have died".
'I am just glad that he is safe and sound. I think anyone else would do the same in that situation.'
At the end of the footage the man shouted repeatedly 'I am trying to get away from here'.
One worker told him: 'You nearly killed yourself mate.'
Another said: 'If you jumped over there, you'd be dead.'
The footage closed with the agitated man pinned to the ground after his near-death experience, while the tracks were closed and police called.
The man repeatedly shouted: 'I am trying to get away from here' while being pinned down by worried construction workers
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