A two-year-old boy was saved by a stranger on Tuesday after he fell onto the track as a train was approaching in the Repubblica underground station in Milan, Italian media report.

CCTV footage shows the boy running away from his mother’s grip on the platform and falling off onto the track.

As the mother panics, one stranger, quickly removed his back pack and jumps onto the track to lift up the boy, before also finding time to pick up a toy which the boy had left behind and climbing back to safety.

The boy was taken to hospital for a check-up as the stranger who saved his life embarked on the next train on his way to his destination.

He was later named as Lorenzo Pianazza, who told the media that he had just arrived on the platform when he saw the boy fall. He realised that the next train had 90 seconds to arrive at the station and felt confident enough that he had the time to rescue the boy.

“Don’t call me a hero,” he told reporters. “I just did what I had to do”.