Bengal boy averts major train accident moments before, waving t-shirt
text_fields
Photo courtesy of India Today
Kolkata: A 12-year-old boy’s timely alert helped avert a major train accident in West Bengal's Malda last Thursday.
A speeding train was heading towards a damaged track when Mursaleen Sheikh flagged down the train with his red t-shirt.
Musaleen, the son of a migrant worker was present at the railway yard where his father was working, noticed damage to a section of railway track near the yard.
A passenger train was coming on the track and Musaleen took off his t-shirt and started waving at the train.
The loco-pilot quickly slammed on the emergency brakes, averting an accident.
The spokesperson of North-East Frontier Railway, Sabyasachi De, said that a 12-year-old child in Malda waved his red t-shirt and alerted the pilot.
‘A 12-year-old child in Malda waved his red shirt at the train, due to which the loco-pilot applied emergency brakes and stopped the passenger train. The child did this because the railway track was damaged due to heavy rains,’ Sabyasachi De was quoted as saying.
The official praised the boy for acting sensibly at the right moment, ‘Seeing the rain-damaged part under the tracks, the boy acted sensibly at the right time and became alert’.
Railways authorities honoured the boy with a certificate of bravery and a cash prize.
The local Member of Parliament and the divisional rail manager visited the boy at his house to congratulate him.