Daijiworld Media Network - Mangauru (SP)

Mangaluru,Sep 24: A six-year-old boy who was crossing the railway tracks near Jeppu Mahakalipadpu railway gate on Saturday September 23, was struck by a train. The victim was Muhammed Hussain Hafil (6), son of Anwar and Shameena couple living at Mahakalipadpu.

The ill-fated boy was a second standard student of Cassia St Rita English Medium School, Jeppu in the city. At about 3.30 pm on Saturday, Hafil had visited a shop nearby for buying toffees. He was crossing the railway tracks near the railway gate near his home, when an express train moving towards north India ran him down. After hitting the boy, the train dragged the boy for a distance of nearly 80 metres. The body of the boy was badly mutilated in the accident. Although people who saw the accident rushed to the rescue and took the boy to a hospital immediately, he had breathed his last by then.

Hafil's younger brother, four-year-old Junaid, too had accompanied is elder sibling to the shop for buying toffees. Two other boys were also with this duo. Although mother of the two, Shameena, had instructed them to buy toffees from a nearby shop, as that particular shop was found closed, the four boys had crossed the railway tracks and gone to another shop through Masjid Road. When returning, Junaid and two other boys, who were ahead of Hafil, had crossed the railway tracks. Hafil saw them crossing the tracks and ran to join them but before he could safely reach the other side, a speeding train knocked him down.

Hafil's family happens to be very poor, and his father, Anwar, had left for a foreign country to work about six months back. Anwar works as driver in Saudi Arabia. Hafil was the eldest of three sons of Anwar.

A case about the incident stands registered in railway police station here. There is a shop by the side of the railway tracks but there is no protective fencing for the tracks. Trains which move to the city junction station from the direction of Kerala and vice versa move on this stretch of the tracks at high speed and pose substantial risk to people crossing the tracks at this stretch.