KOCHI: A potentially fatal fall onto the railway tracks was narrowly averted on Thursday, thanks to the quick thinking and bravery of a woman passenger at Tripunithura station. Usha Suresh Babu, a nutritionist based in Tripunithura, saved the life of an elderly man who was left dangling from the handrail of the AC coach of the Ernakulam Junction Thiruvananthapuram Central Vanchinadu Express.
The incident occurred as the train began pulling out of the station. Usha, who was standing at the door of one of the coaches, spotted the man stuck between the moving train and the platform, his body outside, his hand barely visible from inside the compartment. Without hesitation, she clung to him, trying to prevent a deadly fall even as the train gathered speed.
Among those who witnessed the scene was Sumi Joy Oliyapuram, Head of the Malayalam Department at Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam. Recalling the tense moments, Sumi said, “Death had to leave without its victim on Thursday.”
Sumi and her colleague, Santhosh T. Varghese, Head of the Economics Department, had just boarded the train at Tripunithura. “I was seated near the door in the AC coach when I heard a cry from outside,” said Sumi. “I told Santhosh someone was calling for help. He too heard it and rushed to the door.”
What they saw was alarming, a woman desperately calling out that she couldn’t hold on any longer, gripping a man wedged between the platform and the coach.
“My colleague immediately pulled the emergency chain,” said Sumi. “A young man from inside the coach joined in and managed to haul the old man up as the train came to a halt.” As the train had only just left the station, it stopped quickly, allowing the rescue to succeed.
According to Sumi, the rescued man appeared to be elderly and possibly homeless. “He looked nomadic, thin, old, shirt torn at the buttons, hair flying, a swollen belly, and emaciated legs,” she said. “Perhaps it was his slight frame and loose clothing that saved him from more serious injury.”
Soon after, the train’s TTE rushed to the spot. The man, who was bleeding from his sides, was moved to the platform and taken to hospital. The TTE later revealed that the man had earlier been removed from the train at Tripunithura for travelling without a ticket, but had apparently tried to reboard the moving train by entering another coach.
The train resumed its journey about ten minutes later after the injured man was attended to.
Sumi praised Usha Suresh Babu’s courage. “She knew the man had jumped in illegally, but that didn’t stop her from risking herself to save him,” she said. “The young man who helped pull him in and Santhosh, who didn’t hesitate to pull the emergency chain despite possible legal consequences, deserve praise too. Together, they prevented a terrible tragedy.”