Displaying exemplary presence of mind and courage for one so young, Prachi Sen, 10, saved four children from being electrocuted at Sanawad in Khargone district, losing two fingers on her left hand in the process.
She doesn't regret her decision to put her life in danger to save her brother and sister and their two playmates. “Bhai, behen ko bachana jaroori tha (it was important to save my siblings),” says the Class VII student, currently recuperating at the Greater Kailash Hospital here after reconstructive surgery on Thursday.
The four children, including Prachi's four-year-old brother and elder sister, were playing on a terrace in the neighbourhood on July 2, while she was two blocks away on her way to joining them. One of the younger boys picked up a long steel bar, which accidentally fell on the 11 KV high-tension wires above the parapet wall. Since it had rained earlier in the day, the terrace was wet. The heavy bar threw the boy off balance; the bar fell on his legs while it was still in contact with the electricity wires and the child was trapped. The three other three children who tried to save him also got stuck beneath the steel bar.
Prachi got to the four before any harm was done. With her right hand, she pushed them while with her left she pulled the steel bar away from the electric wire. "It all happened within minutes. While the children got away with minor burns, two fingers on Prachi's left hand, with which she had held the bar, were completely burnt," said her proud father Santosh Sen.
{{/usCountry}}Prachi got to the four before any harm was done. With her right hand, she pushed them while with her left she pulled the steel bar away from the electric wire. "It all happened within minutes. While the children got away with minor burns, two fingers on Prachi's left hand, with which she had held the bar, were completely burnt," said her proud father Santosh Sen.
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