Photo by Champagne Supernova

Many reports of a person on Metrorail tracks end badly. But last Thursday, the Pentagon City station saw some real-life heroics when a woman and her father went into action after they saw a fellow passenger tumble onto the tracks just seconds before a D.C.-bound train pulled up.

The Washington Post identified the rescuers as Annandale resident Jennifer Buchanan and her father, Kent Wright, who were on their way to a hockey game. Wright, in his 70s, was visiting from Massachusetts.

The passenger who fell, described in a Metro Transit Police report as a 31-year-old D.C. resident, did so about 6:40 p.m. after not minding his surroundings while looking at his phone and composing a text message. With the next train literally seconds away, Buchanan and Wright scrambled to pull the victim to safety, while other Metro customers yelled for the oncoming train to stop.

In a grainy security video released by Metro, less than 12 seconds lapse between the man’s fall—he can be spotted thanks to the glow coming off his phone—and when the rescue. According to the Post, Buchanan and Wright then boarded the train and proceeded to their hockey game, rather than stay and be exalted by the onlookers:

Then, apparently more interested in getting to the game on time than being hailed as heroes, [Buchanan] and her father boarded a train for the game.

She did send her husband a quick text from the train.

“We just saved somebody’s life,” it read.

The scene is remarkable, though entirely preventable, says Metro spokesman Dan Stessel. “This is not an everyday occurrence, but people falling off the platform due to inattention is something that does happen every few weeks or so,” he writes in an email. “We understand the desire to use mobile devices while on the system, but a bit of caution and common sense would go a long way.”

As for the man who fell, he did not suffer any serious injuries and declined treatment from the medics dispatched to the scene.