DAVANAGERE: Siddesh, a 9-year-old, class 4 student of the Government Higher Primary School in Avaragere village, on the outskirts of Davanagere city, averted a railway accident on Sunday morning. He not only alerted his father Manjunath about a crack in the track but also flagged down an approaching train with his red T-shirt.

Manjunath has a small, thatched hotel near the DCM township about 50 yards away from the railway line, Siddesh said, “I was worried on seeing the fracture and rushed to tell my father about it.” Initially, Manjunath didn’t take the boy seriously. But when the little boy dragged him to the spot, he realized the gravity of the problem. Some walkers and joggers had already assembled at the spot but couldn’t decide what to do even though a couple of trains had passed over the faulty section.

The boy had gone to attend to nature’s call near the railway tracks around 6.30am when he heard a sound different from the usual one when trains went past. He would watch trains go by and was familiar with the different sounds, Manjunath said.

“Our son stood on the track waving his red T-shirt wrapped around a stick at the train from Hubli to Chitradurga (Hubli-Chitradurga passenger) at 7.30 am,” said the boy’s mother Anasuyamma .

Railway authorities said track fractures can happen around the onset of summer. Some passengers on the train appreciated the boy’s courage and appealed to the district administration and elected representatives to recommend him for a bravery award.

School headmistress Gayatridevi MC said Siddesh is an average student active in extracurricular activities. She’s now seeing a brave new boy who perhaps saved many lives.

Officialspeak

It was a welding failure. We appreciate the boy’s quick thinking in flagging down the train. Our engineer paid him Rs 500 on Sunday and thanked him. We’ll recommend a bravery award.

Thippaiah | railway station manager, Davanagere

