Pradip Sonawane

MUMBAI: A samaritan extricated a railway accident victim who was trapped between a train and the platform at Mahim station in a 20-minute long operation recently. None of the bystanders was willing to come to the victim’s rescue. In the process, the samaritan gave a miss to a long-distance train that he was supposed to board from Mumbai Central Terminus. The victim, Santosh Kumar Mahanto, who was admitted to Sion Hospital, got himself discharged on Saturday.

A Bihar native, 20-year-old Mahanto works with a Santacruz-based firm dealing in electronic surveillance cameras. On April 27, he was commuting from Lower Parel to Vile Parle in a down train. He was standing at the door of the local when his cellphone slipped and landed on the tracks around 6.10pm. The train had halted at Mahim station and Mahanto decided to jump on to the tracks and retrieve his phone .

“He found his phone. But as he couldn’t hop back into his train on platform number one, Mahanto decided to cross the tracks and climb on to platform number number two. As he was trying to climb onto platform number two, a Churchgate-bound local arrived,” said a GRP officer. Pradip Sonawane, a private detective, was waiting on platform two to get into the Churchgate local. He watched, horrified, as the local dragged Mahanto. “Mahanto was wearing tight-fitting denims and was finding it tough to climb on to the platform. He was trapped between the platform and the motorman's cabin after the train halted. His lower back was caked in blood and in immense pain,” said Sonawane.

Co-passengers gathered but wouldn’t come forward to help Mahanto as the extensive bleeding frightened them.

“Only half of his body could be seen from the platform. I got down on the tracks to the stretch where he was trapped. His denims had to be taken off to extricate him. It took 20 minutes and the train was detained till then. Someone called up the cops and they rushed him to the ICCU of Sion Hospital. He had suffered serious injuries to his lower back and arms,” said Sonawane.

Sonawane said Mahanto does not have any family in Mumbai and his colleagues were informed of his condition. “That day, I was to travel to Rajasthan by a long-distance train from Mumbai Central Terminus at 6.50pm. But I missed it and had to take another train the next day,” said Sonawane.

Last year, more than 3,000 commuters were killed and over 3,400 injured in railway accidents in Mumbai. Track-crossing caused a majority of accidents.

Between January and April this year, more than 900 commuters were killed and over 970 were injured.

