A 17-year-old Turkish boy died after a train hit him when he jumped on the tracks to save a homeless German man in Frankfurt on Tuesday.

Mustafa Sözen, who was studying to be a lab technician, was waiting for his train at Ostendstrasse station when he saw a man who fell on the tracks. Sözen and an unidentified man of Indian origin jumped on the tracks and pulled the unidentified man to safety. The other rescuer managed to leave the tracks, but Sözen failed to avoid the incoming train and died. The man Sözen rescued was a drunk homeless man who escaped without any injuries.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), the Turkish youth's father Ejder Sözen said his son was "like an angel" and that he sacrificed his own life to save another. He also criticized German police who told him that his son "might be a victim of a daring challenge to jump onto the tracks." German police said there were no surveillance cameras at the station to capture the incident. Sözen will be brought to Turkey for a funeral in his family's hometown Nazilli in western Turkey.