BENGALURU: A seven-year-old boy fell off Hassan-Yeshwantpur Demu train betweeen Samudravalli and Shantigram stations on Saturday afternoon, and a keyman on duty turned his saviour. He took the boy to the nearest government health facility and helped him reunite with his parents six hours later.
The boy is being treated at the government hospital in Shantigram and met his parents, who were asleep on the train when he fell off and realised he was missing after travelling for more than 90km. The boy, his mason-father and mother had boarded the train at Hassan at 2.30pm.
Kabadi Manjappa, 30, who has been patrolling and maintaining tracks as a keyman for five years, said this was the first time he saw someone fall off the train onto the tracks.
“I noticed the child falling around 3.30pm when I was checking the tracks. I rushed towards him since he was crying in pain. The challenge was how to console him as he was speaking in Telugu and I in Kannada,” Manjappa told TOI on Sunday. “Another problem was the boy said his parents hadn’t noticed him fall and didn’t have a mobile,” he said.
Despite the language barrier, the keyman realised the immediate thing to do was save the boy’s life. “I carried him for about half a kilometre to reach the nearest village and then took him to the government hospital at Shantigram where he was given first aid,” he said.
Reunited with kin after 6 hrs
The boy told the keyman he fell off the train accidentally when he was standing near the door. “I informed my superior officer and the official on duty at Shantigram. They alerted their counterparts who then made announcements at the stations along the route so that his parents would know where their child is,” Manjappa said. The boy’s parents realised he was missing at Thippasandra station and got off. They took a bus to Kunigal and from there boarded another one to Hassan.
“After they got down at the station, they contacted me. I briefed them and they took a bus from Kunigal and reached Shantigram at 9:30pm. They were reunited with their son more than six hours after the incident,” Manjappa said.
