Malda: A major train accident was prevented by a 12-year-old boy in West Bengal after he waved his red shirt and alerted the loco pilot of a speeding passenger train to stop the train from crossing a portion of the track that was damaged by rain. The Kanchanjunga Express from Sealdah to Silchar picked up Mursalin Seikh’s signal and applied the emergency brake immediately to stop the train just in time. The incident took place last Thursday (Sept 21) near the Bhaluka road yard.
Mursalim, a Class VI student, is the son of Mohammad Ismail, a migrant worker, and Marjina Bibi, a bidi worker. Ismail is in Gujarat now. Mursalim has a brother and a sister.
“A 12-year-old boy in Malda has defined bravery after he waved his red shirt to make the loco-pilot of a speeding passenger train stop the train from crossing a rain damaged portion,” Sabyasachi De, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northeast Frontier Railway, said in a statement.
Mr. Mursalin, 8, Saved hundreds of lives from #TrainAccident in Malda, West Bengal.
Meet Mursalin, a student of class 5th standard, at d risk of his own life, saved lives of hundreds of passengers traveling by Kanchanjunga Express from Sealdah to Silchar near Bhaluka #viralvideo pic.twitter.com/BkqfJJcver
— Momin Ali (@momin_amu) September 23, 2023
He said the porion was damaged at a location where soil and the pebbles were washed away by the rain. “The boy named Mursalin Seikh, son of a migrant labour of the nearby village, was also present in the yard with the railway staff. On noticing a rain-damaged portion under the tracks, the boy acted sensibly at that point of time and alerted the loco pilot of an approaching passenger train by waving his red shirt along with other on duty railway staff,” De said.
“NF Railway authorities today rewarded the brave boy with a certificate and cash award for his valour. Malda North MP Khagen Murmu along with Divisional Railway Manager of Katihar Shri Surendra Kumar reached the boy’s home and rewarded him and appreciated his effort. NFR salutes the boy’s approach towards society being a teenager,” De said.
Earlier this year, a major train accident was averted at Jharkhand’s Bokaro after a tractor crashed the railway gate near the Santhaldih railway crossing when the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express (train no. 22812) was passing from there.
