Infant remains unharmed under running train

The child was lying on the railway track when Ashraful Bhuiyan saw him. At first he thought the child was dead. But the child started crying as soon as he took it in his arms.

Later on, Ashraful came to know that the baby’s mother had been crushed under a train. However, the child was completely unharmed despite being under a running train on the railway track.

The locomotive master of the train said he saw the woman and the child lying on the railway track. However, he had no time to stop the train. He blew the whistle repeatedly, but the woman didn’t move. He suspected that it was a suicide attempt.

The police talked with the family members of the woman and said she might have committed suicide with her child over a family feud.

Ashraful Bhuiyan found the child lying on the railway track in the West Hinguli area in the Mirsarai upazila of Chattogram on Wednesday. He took the child to a physician. The physician said the child was unharmed. Besides, the x-ray report didn’t show any trace of major injury.

Speaking to Prothom Alo over the phone, Ashraful said, “I thought the child was dead. However, it started crying as soon as I took it in my arms. The child only had a little bruise on the forehead. It’s a miracle that the child is alive. Probably the child fell unconscious due to the sound of the train or in fear. Otherwise, it would have been dead now if it moved while the train was passing.”

Hemayet Hossain was the loco master of the Chattogram-bound Mahanagar Express. This correspondent spoke to Hemayet Hossain on Saturday. The loco master got the news of the child’s survival from the correspondent.

He said, “The child survived! Alhamdulillah. It’s such great news. I couldn’t sleep for even an hour after the incident.  I saw the face of the child for a moment. But, I couldn’t do anything. It’s hard to express the feeling in words.”

Hemayet Hossain further said the train was running at a speed of 75 kilometres per hour. He saw something lying on the track about 200 metres ahead. However, he couldn’t understand whether it was human there or not. Later, he realised that a woman was lying there with a child. The woman was holding the hands of the child.

Hemayet said, “I was blowing the whistle continuously, but all my efforts went in vain. It was not possible to stop the train at such a speed before reaching the spot where the woman was lying. I had to watch people committing suicide in my life due to my profession. However, this was a very tragic incident. It happened right before my eyes, but I couldn’t do anything. I felt so helpless at the time.”

The train stopped some 300-400 metres away from the spot as the pipe of the second coach of the train tore in collision with the body of the woman.

He said, “I was shouting to the people around to help the child. I told them the child might have been alive.”

Ashraful Bhuiyan, who rescued the child, said, “I do not know how the child ended up on the railway track. I was on a bike with my cousins while the train passed us. It was continuously blowing the whistle. When I got there, I found the child alone. However, seeing the surroundings I realised that someone might have died. But my focus was solely on saving the child. So I took the child to a physician.”

He said after seeing the physician he took the child to his house. His cousin Jamshed Alam posted a picture of the child on Facebook seeking the identity of the child. Later, they handed over the child to the family members in presence of the police and local dignitaries.

Ashraful Bhuiyan said the child’s grandfather came to his house today. He said he wanted to keep his grandchild with him. The child’s father also wants to keep the child.

Mazharul Karim, officer-in-charge (OC) of the Chattogram railway police, said the members of the nearest police outpost rushed to the spot immediately after the incident. Nobody filed any complaint over the incident. Therefore, a case of unnatural death (UD) has been lodged and the child was handed over to the grandfather.

OC Mazharul Karim further said, “The child’s grandfather is not affluent financially. The child’s father works as a mason. I suspect that the woman wanted to commit suicide with her child over a family feud. The police will consider the bettert of the child to decide who will keep the child.”