When Rai's family reached the platform, Marina and her daughter Saisha managed to get up in the General compartment. But, before Rupesh and others boarded, the train had started.
Pic/Anurag Kamble
Two teenagers saved the life of an Army man's 5-year-old daughter from falling from a running local train at Dadar on Saturday morning. The Army man, who is posted at Navy Nagar, was on his way for an outing along with his family and relatives to Matheran over the weekend.
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While the wife and daughter of the army man boarded a fast train, the other three couldn’t. When the local train began to move, the mother stepped down from the running local and fell on to the platform. His five-year-old daughter, who didn’t understand what to do, tried to imitate her mother, but two boys who were returning home, held the girl and saved her from falling off the train. The girl was later united with the family in 20 minutes.
Rupesh Sharman Rai (37), is an army man of rank Hawaldar and is posted at Navy Nagar, Colaba. Rai had invited his family from Darjeeling to spend the vacation with him and his wife and daughter. On Saturday morning, he planned to take his wife Marina, 5-year-old daughter Saisha, her aunt and her toddler son to Matheran.
"We took a local from Churchgate and got down at Dadar. From there, we came on to the Central line and went to platform number 5 by mistakingly," said Rai. "While we all were waiting for the train, a passenger on the platform informed us about taking a fast train from platform number 4 and getting off at Neral. Upon hearing this, we all hurried towards platform 4 after which the train had arrived," added Rupesh.
When Rai's family reached the platform, Marina and her daughter Saisha managed to enter the General compartment. But, before Rupesh and others boarded, the train had started. “I began shouting at my wife to get off, meanwhile, the train picked up speed. Despite that, my wife jumped from the train and fell on to the platform. My daughter still remained in the compartment. I tried to run behind the train to catch it, but couldn’t,” he added.
When little Saisha saw her mother jumping from the train, she too, tried to imitate her and came towards the footboard to jump. Two teenagers standing in the gangway sensed the danger and instantly caught hold of the little girl when she tried to jump off the train.
"Then train already left the platform and Saisha tried to jump but teenagers Ismail Siraj Sheikh and Mohammed Taufiq Tayyeb Sheikh, held her and saved her from falling off," said Prasad Pandhare, Senior Inspector of Dadar GRP. "Both of them then shouted for the passengers seated inside the compartment to pull the chain. The train was then stopped by the motorman at Matunga railway station.
When cops brought Saisha to GRP station, Rupesh and Marina couldn’t believe their eyes. Rupesh and his wife thanked the boys for their help. Speaking to mid-day, Rupesh said, "I have no words to thank those angels. They literally snatched my daughter from the jaws of death."
Rai's family and the Dadar GRP family felicitated the teenage duo. Ismail and Mohammed study at a BMC school in Byculla and live in Kalwa.
When we contacted Taufiq, he said, "My friend and I boarded the local train at Byculla and were standing near the door. When the crowd entered the train we saw a woman falling from the train and then her daughter tried to jump too. But, the train had already left the platform. Without a second thought, we held her while she was literally getting off the footboard. We are glad that we managed to save her."
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