“The train knocked him over but through some miracle did not kill him,” general Javier Avalos, a security official for the town of Ate in Lima province, told AFP.

“He apparently was in a state of intoxication, fell asleep along the train tracks and did not feel the train coming,” Avalos said.

The train was on a regular run towards the Peruvian Andes when it struck 28-year-old Juan Carlos Tello, he said, adding that it stopped quickly.

Surveillance footage released by the city shows the locomotive dragging the young man for several metres.

He suffered only minor injuries to his left arm, Avalos said.

Accidents have been common on this train line.

In August 2024, a young man wearing headphones was struck and killed by a cargo train while trying to cross the tracks.