Mumbai:
And yet again, a life was almost swallowed up by the gap between a station platform and a train. Dahisar's Vijay Manilal Nisar yesterday dodged a gory death and a maiming accident in this gap by less than a hair's breadth.
At 10.45 am on Tuesday, his parents, natives of Gandhinagar, were to arrive via the Bhuj Express at platform number 5 of the Borivli station to visit him after a gap of three months.
The 35-year-old was so eager to greet his parents who were travelling in the S8 coach that he made a leap to step on to the S9 while the train was still rolling in at the station.
But in the flurry to greet them onboard, he slipped and fell in the gap between the platform and the train, and got dragged along for a few metres with the train over him. He, however, survived. Vinod Tak, a friend who had accompanied Nisar to receive his parents, said, "Vijay and I were waiting for the train.
When it arrived, S8 coach rolled ahead, and in his excitement to meet them, Vijay tried to jump aboard. But he slipped in through the gap. I was shocked; it was awful to see him in fatal danger right in front of my eyes."
After he fell, Nisar rolled over twice, as he was pulled along a few metres. A throng of passengers gathered and shouted for him to struggle out of the space and on to the platform, but he couldn't move - he was stuck in the space between the tracks.
"He is very strong. Even after slipping through the crack, he was in his senses and was asking us to take him to the hospital," said Tak. Meanwhile, commuters pulled the chain to stop the train. Nisar was dragged out from below the train from the other side.
He was taken to hospital immediately. Incidentally, Nisar's parents had arrived at the platform and they didn't have any idea about their son's ordeal. "We informed them to go home straight, as no one was able to reach the station to pick them up. After they went home, they were told that Vijay had met with a minor accident in a train," said Nisar's cousin Sumit, who stayed with him at the Kokilaben Hospital where he has been admitted.
He also said that the railway police were swift in coming to Nisar's aid. "The coolie took him to platform number 1, and before we reached, an ambulance was kept ready to take him to Shatabdi Hospital, from where we requested the doctors to have it arranged so he could be taken to a private hospital. He was then brought to Kokilaben where he is being treated," Sumit said.
Nisar, who is married with two kids, fractured his left hand, and sustained injuries to his back. Two toes on his right leg need to be cut by half, doctors said. His operation was under way till last evening.
His father Manilal, said, "We are praying for his recovery. This is a tragic moment for us but we are very thankful to God for saving his life."
Senior inspector Shivaji Bagal of the Borivli Government Railway Police said, "We provided him immediate medical help and shifted him to the hospital. We will record his statement."