A pram carrying twin two-year-old girls rolled into the path of an oncoming train in Sydney on Sunday, according to police. The accident resulted in the death of one of the children and the father who heroically attempted to rescue them. One of the little girls survived by sheer luck after she landed between the rails when the pram fell off the platform at Carlton railway station in southern Sydney. She was largely untouched by the train that passed above her on its way to central Sydney in the early afternoon, police said.
The parents had taken a lift down to the station platform and briefly let go of the pram, according to New South Wales police superintendent Paul Dunstan. It appears that the pram instantly started to roll towards the train lines, possibly due to a gust of wind, though the exact cause is uncertain. Police and emergency services arrived shortly after being alerted and found the pram under the train, which had slowed but was not scheduled to stop at the station. Crying could be heard coming from underneath the train.
One of the children was unharmed, but the other girl and her 40-year-old father were killed. The father had immediately gone into parent mode and tried to save his daughters, sacrificing his life in a brave and heroic act, Dunstan said. The mother and her surviving daughter were taken to St. George Hospital, where they were in stable condition. The 39-year-old mother was in a state of shock and receiving support from family and friends in their local Indian community.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns expressed that the local community would be deeply affected by the accident. He hoped that they could find some solace in knowing that the father died in an extraordinary act of bravery, attempting to save his children in the face of a tragic accident.
