KOCHI: In a bizarre incident, a two-and-half-year-old boy had a narrow escape after he was accidentally locked inside a car by his grandfather at Padamugal here on Monday.
Muhammad Sayan, a kindergarten student, was saved by the timely intervention of officials of the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD), following a near-two-hour ordeal. The child got trapped inside the vehicle after his grandfather apparently forgot to drop him at home after picking him from school.
It all started when Sayan’s grandfather picked him from school, and proceeded to drop the boy’s mother Amiya at a college at Thrikkakara, where she had to report for her new job as teacher. On the way back, Sayan moved to the backseat of the car without being noticed by his grandfather, and nodded off.
When they reached home, the grandfather got out of the car to attend a phone call. But, soon he got back into the car as he had to meet an associate, and drove off, oblivious of the fact that the child was still inside the car. Later, he reached the Deputy Transport Commissioner (DTC) office at Kakkanad, where his friend was waiting, and parked the Honda City in front of the building. By 2 pm, Sayan’s grandfather locked the vehicle and went off in his friend’s car, still not knowing that the boy was inside the car.
Meanwhile, Assistant Motor Vehicle Inspector Brighty Emmanuel and driver Biju Issac arrived in front of the DTC office to park a tanker lorry seized from Seaport Airport road for traffic violation.
On seeing the Honda City parked there, Brighty told Biju to have the car removed, for accommodating the lorry. First they thought the boy’s parents might have left him inside the car and gone for shopping. However, when no one turned up to take the car even after a long wait, and Sayan’s family members could not be found in any of the nearby shops, the Vehicle Inspector and his driver smelt danger.
A closer inspection showed that Sayan was almost unconscious and was struggling to breathe. Attempts to open the car using scale failed, a technique normally used in such situations, for the car being a brand new one. Following many failed attempts to unlock the door, the duo alerted the police and the Fire and Rescue Services Department, who reached the spot and rescued the boy after breaking the window glass.
“It was sheer luck we reached the spot with the seized lorry at the nick of the time, so that we could save the boy’s life. It was god’s grace that we happened to be there, otherwise something horrible might have happened,” said Brighty. After around one hour, Sayan’s grandmother reached the DTC office after being informed by the MVD officials, who collected details of the car’s owner from registration records.