Chinese woman joins handbag in X-ray machine

Staff at Dongguan Railway Station in southern China were shocked to find the silhouette of the train commuter on their X-ray monitors.

An online video showed the bizarre incident took place on Sunday during the Lunar New Year travel rush.

After climbing off the conveyor belt, the woman checked her bags and left.

Extraordinary X-ray images show the woman kneeling on all fours behind her luggage, still wearing high-heeled shoes.

It is unclear why the woman was so anxious about her handbag, but many people in China carry large amounts of cash when travelling home for Chinese New Year.

The commuter had earlier placed her suitcase on the conveyor belt before attempting to walk through the security scanner with a small handbag, footage from Pear Video shows.

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She was then told all bags had to go through the X-ray machine, but she refused to part with her handbag.

Her solution was to join her belongings on the conveyor belt, and she climbed out the other side unscathed, with one security guard laughing with surprise.

Rail station staff in Dongguan have since advised passengers not to enter the X-ray machines, as radiation given off by the scanners could be harmful, local media reported.

The woman was one of an estimated 390 million people expected to travel by train for the Chinese New Year holiday, which falls on 16 February.