‘Brave and heroic’ father dies after getting hit by train while attempting to save twins
A pram carrying two-year-old twin girls rolled onto the path of a moving train on Sunday (21 July) at Carlton Railway Station in Sydney, Australia.
The tragic event killed one of the girls as well as their father, who had jumped onto the tracks in an attempt to save his daughters.
Fortunately, one of the twins survived the incident uninjured.
Father dies trying to save twins from oncoming train
According to ABC News, emergency services were called to the railway station at around 12.25pm on Sunday with reports of a pram carrying two girls that had rolled onto the train tracks.
New South Wales (NSW) Police Superintendent Paul Dunstan said that the parents of the twins had taken a lift down to the station platform where they took their hands off the pram for a “very, very short period of time”.
However, the pram rolled onto the path of an oncoming train.
“Whether it’s a gust of wind, we’re not quite sure – but it appears that the pram has instantly started to roll in the direction of the train lines,” Dunstan added.
An oncoming train that was travelling city-bound from Cronulla to Bondi Junction hit the pram, killing one of the girls.
The 40-year-old father of the twins jumped onto the tracks in an attempt to save his daughters but was also killed in the accident.
Upon arrival, emergency services confirmed that the father and one of the daughters had died at the scene.
Surviving daughter was “largely untouched”
Superintendent Dunstan described the father’s actions as “brave and heroic”.
NSW Premier Chris Minns told reporters outside St George Police Station in Sydney that the father exhibited an “extraordinary, instinctive act of bravery”.
He added, “That’s not going to bring him or his little daughter back but it shouldn’t go unremarked upon that in the face of a terrible, terrible accident he gave his own life to try to save his children.”
Source: ABC News
Fire and rescue workers were seen recovering the bodies from the train tracks after the tragedy.
According to the police, the other girl survived “through good luck” after she landed between the rails of the train track.
She was “largely untouched” by the train that apparently passed right above her.
Superintendent Dunstan also said the girls’ mother, 39, who was unharmed, witnessed the tragedy and has been left “incredibly traumatised”.
She, together with her daughter who has survived, were taken to the hospital and were in stable condition, ABC News reported.
Also read: Female police officer who took down Sydney mall stabber alone praised for heroism
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Featured image adapted from Murray Trembath on St George and Sutherland Shire Leader.
