A woman who plunged off a railway platform into the path of an oncoming train escaped uninjured today.

A witness said he thought she had been killed as the train passed over her as she lay on the tracks.

But it is believed she fell between the lines, got up immediately afterwards and fled the scene.

It happened just after 9.30am at Haywards Heath station.

British Transport Police are not sure whether the woman jumped into the path of the train or fainted.

Carriages of a London-Brighton train passed over her.

Tony Wardle, from Haywards Heath, said: "I was reading my paper and out of the corner of my eye I saw this woman jump off platform two and into the front of the train. It didn't look like an accident.

"I don't know how she survived. Everybody held their breath.

"But she just got up and went through to the car park as she was being chased by rail officers. All I knew about the woman was that she was wearing blue."

Rail staff say a revenue protection officer chased the woman and got her name and address. Police are trying to locate her.

Trains were delayed because of the incident.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: "We had a report of someone jumping in front of a train. The incident happened at 9.37am."