TikToker Chris Olsen recounts using 'superhero strength' to escape when a man pulled out knife on the subway

In a TikTok video explaining what happened, Olsen said he and his friend Caroline Haroldson were travelling ona subway in New York when they “witnessed a stabbing”.

The social media star, aged 27, who is friends with singer Meghan Trainor, told his 13.8 million followers how the everyday event quickly became an upsetting ordeal.

“We just basically witnessed a stabbing and almost died on the subway ourselves,” he told the camera. He said events began to take a turn when a man started yelling at a fellow passenger in their subway car. “So people yell at each other on the subway often. When they started yelling, Cara got a little nervous, but I was like, it’s gonna be okay. This just kind of happens,” he said.

He added: “Most people have their headphones in, so they aren’t really listening to what’s going on, but Cara and I are listening to the whole thing.” It was then, however, that he said Cara saw that one of the arguing passengers had pulled out a knife.

One of the people involved in the argument then ran at the other. It was then that other people in the subway car noticed what was happening and panic ensued. “Every single person on the train gets up and starts running right at Cara and I because we’re near the end of the car now”, Olsen said.

He then recounted how he managed to force open the doors between subway cars, allowing himself and Cara, and other passengers, to get as far away from the situation as possible. “I somehow use adrenaline and my untapped superhero strength to rip it open,” he went on.

However, they then found themselves trapped in the front of the car with nowhere to go. Olsen said: “We get pushed all the way to the front of that next car, but the door in front of that is completely locked, all we can hear behind us is people are screaming.”

He continued: “We don’t know if someone has brought out a gun. We don’t know who else has been stabbed.”

Olsen, Cara and the other commuters kept trying to open the door but they could not - and then someone pulled the emergency break handle which forced the subway to stop.

The subway conductor then arrived with a key to open the locked door, meaning everyone could alight the subway and get to a place of safety.

Olsen concluded his video to say that both himself and Cara were overcome with emotion and started crying after they escaped. He also urged his followers to “stay safe” on the subway. He did not give any details regarding what had happened to the man with the knife, or state if anyone had been injured in the incident, or if the emergency services had attended.