Two boys ran over 600 metres towards a speeding train to alert the loco pilot and averted a train tragedy in Karnataka. The incident took place near Khanapura around 26 km from Belagavi.
Belagavi: Two youngsters from Karnataka jumped into action at the nick of time and saved thousands of lives. They ran over 600 metres to inform the loco pilot and averted a train tragedy. A tree had reportedly fallen on the railway track and the duo, Areef Riyas Syed and Toufiq Abdul, saw it and ran against time to alert the loco driver.
It was around 12.45 in the afternoon on Monday when the Kolhapur-Hyderabad Express was heading towards Khanapura from Desur station near Belagavi.
At this time, Areef Riyas Syed and Toufiq Abdul were travelling to Belagavi city to take back a television set to their home. Meanwhile, the duo saw an uprooted tree on the railway track, and soon they swayed into action.
As reported by News 18, Riyaz said that he and his friend Toufiq saw some people trying to clear the fallen tree from the railway track. “Soon, we heard a siren suggesting that a train was drawing close. We wanted to do something to save the passengers in the train. Hence, we began to run towards the train," Riyaz said.
The duo yelled and used their shirts to wave to the driver. Soon, the loco pilot saw the boys and applied the brakes. The train came to a standstill just 15 metres away from where the tree had fallen.
Thousands of passengers were travelling in the Kolhapur-Hyderabad train, which may have led to a major tragedy, but the young boys saved their lives.
According to sources, the loco pilot PP Pawar thanked Riyaz and Toufiq for their presence of mind. Pawar reportedly made a special mention of Riyaz and Toufiq in the incident report sent to the railways department.
Similarly, in 2017, a 12-year-old boy in Bihar had redefined bravery after he flagged his red shirt to make the driver of a speeding passenger train stop from crossing a broken railway line.
Here, the boy also ran as fast as he could on the tracks and flagged his shirt to make the speeding train stop, which saved the lives of hundreds of passengers.
According to reports, the driver initially was clueless as to what was happening. When the undeterred boy intensely flagged his red shirt, the driver of the passenger train pulled the emergency brake, which halted the train midway. It was then when the driver learnt that the track was broken.
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