'I ran towards child but also thought...': Railwayman who saved 6-year-old
The CCTV footage of the incident at platform number 2 of the Vangani station, 90km away from Mumbai, on April 17 shows Mayur Shelke running on the railway tracks towards the boy even as a train was just a few feet away.
The Indian Railways personnel, who picked up a six-year-old from the tracks last week in Maharashtra, said on Tuesday he did think about his own safety for a spilt second before running towards the boy to save his life. The incident occurred at the Vangani railway station near Mumbai when the boy slipped from his mother's hand and fell on the railway track. They were walking close to the edge of the platform.
The CCTV footage of the incident at platform number 2 of the Vangani station, 90km away from Mumbai, on April 17 shows Mayur Shelke running on the railway tracks towards the boy even as a train was just a few feet away. The video grab shows Shelke lifting the boy onto the platform in the nick of time and then pulling himself up as the speeding train neared. "I ran towards the child but also thought that I might be in danger too. Still, I thought I should save him," Shelke said, according to news agency ANI. "The woman (with the child) was visually impaired. She could do nothing," he added.
Shelke's act of courage won him the applauds from the railway staff at Central Railway as well as from the mother of the boy. "The woman was very emotional and thanked me a lot," Shelke told ANI.
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The railway staff also felicitated Shelke. "All the best, Keep doing well. Hardly anyone could do what you did by saving the life of a 6-year-old," an official could be heard saying in a video posted by ANI as officials and staff can be seen applauding Shelke. "There is nothing bigger than saving lives," the official also said.
Union minister Piyush Goyal also called Shelke to praise the courageous act. "Very proud of Mayur Shelke, Railwayman from the Vangani Railway Station in Mumbai who has done an exceptionally courageous act, risked his own life & saved a child's life," Goyal said on Twitter. In an official release by the railway's ministry, Goyal also said that "Shelke's work cannot be compared to any prize or money, but he will be rewarded for inspiring humanity with his work."