A man who was pinned under a C-Train in downtown Calgary was seen hanging from the mirror of one of the train cars prior to being run over, police say.

It took emergency crews a little over an hour on Tuesday afternoon to pull the man out from under the train car.

The accident occurred shortly after 3 p.m. on Seventh Avenue and First Street S.E., police say.

Service through downtown was closed for several hours during and after the incident, snarling commuter traffic during rush hour. Shuttle buses were brought in to ferry passengers through the core. Seventh Avenue reopened and normal service was restored by early evening.

EMS said they were able to provide some treatment to the man while he was stuck. He was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.