Woman comes under train, escapes with crushed legs

A woman miraculously survives after a train runs over her legs at a railway station in Navi Mumbai. Doctors say her legs will have to be amputated.

Navi Mumbai: A 50-year-old woman who works as a domestic help had a miraculous escape on Monday when she fell on the railway tracks in CBD Belapur station and a train ran over her legs, crushing them. The train was reversed for a few metres to rescue the woman and she is currently under treatment at a hospital in Belapur, where doctors said her legs would have to be amputated.

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According to the Panvel government railway police (GRP), the woman, identified as Rohini Bote, a Taloja resident, usually took the bus every day from Belapur to Kharghar, but decided to take the train on Monday.

Pravin Padvi, senior police inspector of Panvel GRP, said that at around 10.03am, when Bote was waiting at Belapur station for a train to Thane, she felt dizzy and fell from the platform onto the tracks.

“She didn’t know much about train services. Hence, instead of going to platform number one for down trains, she went to platform number three where up trains halt. Though the area where she was waiting is not covered by CCTVs, we learnt that she was standing at the edge of the platform when she felt dizzy and ended up on the tracks,” said Padvi. Both her legs were crushed in the incident, he added.

Central Railway chief public relations officer Swapnil Nila confirmed that Bote did not fall on the tracks while boarding the train. “She fell down in front of the train just as it was arriving and it ran over her legs. Since trains have a very slow speed when they enter the platform, the loco pilot could stop the train immediately,” he said.

The train was subsequently reversed for 17-18 metres to rescue the woman, he said, adding, “The guard also got in touch with the station master in a bid to reverse the train and save her life.”

A video of the incident which has gone viral shows the woman lying on her back as the train reverses and then sitting upright. She was pulled out with the help of GRP personnel who rushed to the spot and commuters who guided the motorman and subsequently taken to MGM hospital in Belapur.

“The woman is still unconscious. Since both her legs have been crushed, they will have to be amputated after consulting her family,” said a hospital source.