A baby delivered in the lavatory of a train in West Bengal has survived tumbling down through the bottom of the carriage and on to the rail tracks. Passengers on the 8181 Tatanagar-Chhapra Express raised the alarm when they saw 38-year-old Rinku Devi Roy jump from the speeding train in what they believed was a suicide attempt.
The train came to a halt more than 2 kilometres away down the track, but when the passengers ran back to help her, they found her cradling the new baby in her arms and weeping inconsolably.
Rinku Debi Roy belongs to Rourkela, in Orissa, and she was returning with her husband to her parents' home in Pathudisapur, Bihar. They reached Tatanagar from Rourkela. From Tatanagar they took the Chhapra Express and as the train crossed Kamaria station, Rinky told her husband Bholanath that she wanted to go to the toilet.
Inside the lavatory she had labour pangs, delivered a newborn boy, the baby fell into the lavatory bowl and through the flap and on to the rail tracks under the speeding train. In horrow, Rinku, even in that stage, ran out of the lavatory and jumped from the rail carriage to find her child.
Her husband pulled the alarm chain, even as Rinku who was hurt after jumping from the train ran towards the spot where the baby had fallen. The train stopped 2 kilometres away from the spot, and as the mother and child returned to the train, the train driver informed Purulia station about this incident. At the station, the mother and child were rushed to Purulia government hospital, where both of them were recovering, according to last reports.
In the hospital, Rinku said: I did not bother about myself at all, when I jumped from the running train. I was worried about my baby. My love for my child saved me from danger.
Shyam Prasad Majumdar, station manager, Purulia, had just one word to react: “Unbelieveable”.
