Trying to save woman, son costs good Samaritan his life

MUMBAI: A 22-year-old good Samaritan paid with his life trying to save a woman and her son from being crushed under the wheels of a train at Shahad railway station on Saturday. However, Ramzan Shaikh's efforts were in vain. Sumaiya Shaikh (25) and her four-year-old son Abuzar too died in the mishap.
According to the Kalyan GRP officials, Sumaiya, a resident of Shahad, was taking Abuzar to a doctor as he had fever."She wanted to cross over from east to west. They were crossing the tracks and had reached platform 1 when the Mumbai-Gorakhpur Express was pulling in," Arun Jagtap, senior inspector, said.
"Ramzan, on spotting Sumaiya and Abuzar in front of the approaching train, jumped on the tracks and tried to push them onto the platform. However, the train could not stop in time and the three died on the tracks," Jagtap said.
"The motorman had spotted the woman and her son on the tracks and sounded the train's horn several times. He tried to stop the train but it was too late," said Ashok Vishwanath Bangali, an eyewitness.
Sumaiya, who hailed from Ahmednagar, had come to visit her father in Shahad last week as her son's summer vacation was on.
"My grandson had fever since Friday night. My daughter wanted to take him to a doctor on Saturday. We never imagined that she would never come back," said Sumaiya's father, Gafoor Shaikh.
Meanwhile, Shahad residents protested the lack of any facilities to help citizens cross the railway station. "There is no foot overbridge at Shahad station for people to cross over from one side to the other. There is one rail overbridge, but it is at a distance and people usually are forced to cross the tracks to save time," said a Shahad resident. "Besides, there are shops very close to the tracks. There is hardly any official manning the tracks or safety measures to stop people from crossing tracks," he added.
Shahad Residents' Association staged a protest outside the railway station later in the day. They were demanding construction of a foot overbridge. "We have given the rail authorities a deadline of 15 days to start work on the foot overbridge. If they fail to do so, we shall stage another protest, but this time, it will be on massive scale," said an association member.
"For the last 15 years, we have been writing to the railway authorities demanding a foot overbridge at station. The rail overbridge constructed by the government is located far away, which forces people to cross the railway tracks," said Ramesh Jadhav, president of the association.
Central Railway officials said the bodies were removed from the tracks soon after the incident. Train services were not affected, an official said.