27-year-old saves life of senior citizen who lost balance while boarding running train at Karjat

In a heroic act, a 27-year-old commuter jumped from a moving local train to save the life of a senior citizen who lost his footing and was falling in the gap between the footboard and platform at Karjat railway station; in a split second, he also re-boarded the train as he wanted to reach work on time

In a heroic act, a 27-year-old commuter jumped from a moving local train to save the life of a senior citizen who lost his footing and was falling in the gap between the footboard and platform at Karjat railway station.

The 27-year-old Ketan Thorve, who saved the life of a senior citizen who lost balance while boarding a running train at Karjat railway station recently. (PRAMOD TAMBE/HT PHOTO)

In a split second, he also re-boarded the train as he wanted to reach work on time.

The incident occurred a few days ago when Ketan Thorve boarded a local train at 10.40am at platform No. 3 of the Karjat railway station. Thorve, who was standing at the door of the train, saw the senior citizen trying to board the train and lost his balance and was falling into the gap.

A video of the incident, which his friends shared on social media, showed Thorve jumping from the moving train, pulling the senior citizen from the gap and again catching the train.

According to Thorve, the man was selling sandwiches inside the local train and carried a sandwich tray on one hand and tried to board the train by holding the train’s door handle with the other hand.

“It all happened in seconds, and I didn’t realise how I could help the man who lost balance. I was standing at the door and saw him trying to board from the door next to mine. He lost balance and fell into the gap. I jumped and pulled him back to the platform and caught the train as I did not want to reach late to work,” said Thorve, who works in an electronic showroom in Khopoli.

Thorve often travels to Khopoli by local train or by his bike daily. On Sunday, he chose to take the local train.

“If I had not pulled him, he would have gone down on the track. Somehow, I could act at the spur of the moment and save him. The train was just leaving the platform and was moving slowly before it picked up speed. I managed to pull him safe. Later, when I looked back, the railway employees had reached him,” added Thorve.

“We came to know that there was such an incident where a commuter saved another man. However, the incident was not recorded with us. We appreciate the job done by the commuter who helped save a life,” said Sambhaji Yadav, senior police inspector, Karjat GRP.