Pictured: Hero father who jumped in front of train to try to save his twin daughters, whose pushchair rolled onto tracks
22 July 2024, 16:06
A father who died trying to save his twin daughters after they fell onto the train tracks has been pictured.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Anand Runwal saw the pushchair fall onto the train tracks in Sydney, Australia, and jumped down to save the lives of his two-year-old girls.
Tragically, a train hit and killed him and one of his daughters.
One of the girls only survived because of "good luck", police said - pointing out that she fell between the railway tracks.
Mr Runwal's husband Poonam was heartbroken in the aftermath, asking: "Where is my husband and child?"
An eyewitness said that the daughter who survived had "hardly a scratch" on her.
Lauren Langelaar, who was working across the street, said: "I ran out to help the mother because I could just hear her screaming while looking down onto the tracks. It all happened very quickly.
"I was down on the platform helping the mother try and scream out to her children and husband under the train," she told Daily Mail Australia.
Authorities said the parents 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".
The pram then rolled towards the train tracks.
It is unclear if the pram rolled due to a gust of wind.
Speaking after the tragedy, New South Wales (NSW) Police Superintendent Paul Dunstan said: "Police... climbed under the train and rescued one of the children who was thankfully unharmed, and reunited her with her mother.
"Sadly the other child, a two-year-old female, and her father who had attempted to save the child, have passed away as a result of this incident."
He added: "(The father) has gone into parent mode and tried to save his two young daughters that have fallen on to the tracks and in doing so it's cost his life, but it's an incredibly brave and heroic act."
