Thanks to an alert policeman, a 60-year-old man, who slipped while boarding a running train, had a miraculous escape on Friday at the Central Railway Station here.
Eye-witnesses said Ahmed Sab Hasan, a fisherman, who wanted to go to Kumta by Matsyagandha Express (Mangalore-Mumbai), ran along with the train and got hold of the two handles and tried to step into a coach. It was raining and people saw him slip. Even as he held on to the handles, his legs went into the gap between platform's edge and the coach.
Railway Protection Force constable E. Sudhir (39), who was close-by, rushed to his rescue. Running parallel to Mr. Hasan, he pulled him out by the collar.
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“I thought stopping the train using the walkie was of no use. The train would have moved some 20 metres and the man could have lost his legs,” Mr. Sudhir told
He knew that only way to rescue him was to pull him out and he had just done that. “The train was picking up speed,” he said.
Mr. Sudhir said that people should know that they should not attempt to board a moving train.
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“They do not know the danger (of embarking on such misadventure). ”
He said Mr. Hasan, who gave the phone number of his son Rafique, did not allow policemen to make a call to the number. His concern was that his family would unnecessarily worry about him. Mr. Sudhir gave the name of Mr. Hasan's village as Kunchadi near Kumta. Mr. Hasan later went to the Mangalore Junction station to catch another train.
Mr. Sudhir, who is from Kozhikode, has been working in the Mangalore Railway Station for four years and speaks Kannada fluently. On being congratulated for the good act, he said: “That is part of my job.” “Have you saved people like this before? Yes. But that is my job,” he said.