A man in the Kemerovo region got the ride of his life after an ill-advised shortcut saw him travel for two-and-a-half hours clinging to the underside of a freight train.
A statement released by the regional police department Thursday said the 23-year-old man, who'd consumed several beers before making his way across a set of railroad tracks, got stuck when attempting to climb underneath a stationary freight train car.
After his jacket got caught on the bottom of the car and the train began to move, he was forced to simply hang on — until it made its next stop two-and-a-half hours later, the statement said. Once the train stopped, the man "collapsed into the snow," police said.
But his impromptu journey didn't end there. He initially tried to walk back home alongside the train track after phoning relatives to tell them he had no idea where he was. His uncle then appealed to police to find the young man.
The man now faces a fine for having violated safety regulations.
Luckily for him, the unusually warm weather for this time of year kept him from freezing to death, police said in the statement.
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