Miracle baby

[Al-khiyal]

Baby survives after train hits pram

October 16, 2009 -- The CCTV footage shows a baby's pram rolling off a train platform as the mother makes a desperate lunge to save her son, but she is too late and it tumbles on to the rails in front of an incoming train. This heart-stopping scene happened yesterday at Ashburton station in Melbourne, Australia. But the story has a happy ending: the six-month-old baby survived with just a cut on his forehead, although the pram was dragged about 35 metres by the braking train.

Paramedic Jon Wright said the boy just "needed a feed and a nap". "Luckily, he was strapped into his pram at the time, which probably saved his life. I think the child's extremely lucky," Wright told the Herald Sun newspaper after the baby was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The footage shows the mother taking her hands off the three-wheeler pram, which begins to roll towards the platform edge. In an episode eerily reminiscent of Eisenstein's famous scene from Battleship Potemkin the pram eludes her outstretched arms and tips front-first on to the tracks as other horrified passengers rush to her side. The driver slammed on the brakes as soon as he saw the pram tumble in front of him and fortunately the train was already slowing down to stop at the station.

Rail firm Connex is to investigate how the pram rolled off the platform and the train driver will be offered counselling. The accident came one day after Connex launched a child safety awareness campaign warning parents to keep infants strapped into their prams at all times while on platforms.

The incident coincided with the "balloon boy" story in the U.S., where a media frenzy ensued after it was feared a six-year-old Colorado boy was trapped in a flyaway balloon. He was later found hiding in the family's garage attic. The blogosphere is awash with speculation that it had all been a publicity stunt by the parents. No such suspicion surrounds the baby on the train platform.

[Al-khiyal]

Un bébé happé par un train s'en sort indemne

Vendredi 16 Octobre 2009 -- La scène a eu lieu dans une gare de Melbourne, en Australie. Une maman distraite a laissé échapper sa poussette sur le quai alors que le train arrivait en gare. Le drame, qui s'est contre toute attente bien terminé, a été filmé par les caméras de sécurité. Bien que la poussette contenant le bébé âgé de six mois ait été traîné sur plusieurs mètres, le bambin s'en est sorti indemne. Selon le Herald Sun, l'enfant miraculé n'a eu qu'une bosse à la tête et a pu sortir de l'hôpital dans lequel il avait été emmené le soir même. Selon le docteur Wright, c'est le fait que le petit ait été attaché dans son berceau qui lui a sauvé la vie, ajoutant que le wagon était en train de ralentir à l'approche du quai.

[Al-khiyal]

[Felicity]

its so sad but ok in the end. Although there is no sound, you know the mother is screaming *shivers*

[Al-khiyal]

Train baby's family 'stressed but OK'

October 18, 2009 -- The family of the baby hit by a Melbourne train has spoken publicly for the first time, revealing its anguish over the accident that has shocked the world. As talkshow powerhouse Oprah Winfrey led an international bidding war for an interview with his wife, the father has told of his enormous relief at his son's miracle survival. Speaking to the Sunday Herald Sun, he said the past three days had been extremely traumatic for his young family. He said the dramatic CCTV footage being watched by millions - it shows his six-month-old son's pram roll into the path of a 250 tonne train - was a great source of stress for his wife. "My wife has seen the footage, but every time she sees it she gets very upset," the man, who asked not to be identified, said. "My wife is very stressed. We are all OK - my wife and my baby are OK - but we really just need some time to get over this." The father, aged in his 20s, yesterday thanked everybody associated with his baby's rescue, including the train driver, who has been hailed a hero by emergency service workers and Connex. As the young family came to terms with Thursday's lucky escape in their CBD apartment yesterday, they remained a source of international fascination. Victoria Police have revealed Winfrey's U.S. producers made contact and requested an interview with the now-famous mother and her baby. And their remarkable tale of survival made newspaper headlines across the globe, as far away as Mexico, Malta, India, South Africa, the UK and the U.S. The CCTV footage showing the three-wheeler pram rolling from the platform at Ashburton railway station and vanishing under the Connex train has become an internet phenomenon.

[amalgamate]

that is the scariest thing that can ever happen to a parent!

[Al-khiyal]

Shweta Verma: I thought my baby was killed by train

October 26, 2009 -- An Australian mother today relived the terrifying moment that her baby rolled beneath an oncoming train in his pram, and revealed that she had been convinced that her son had been killed. Millions of television and internet viewers around the world have watched video footage of the second that Shweta Verma let go of the pram, which hurtled off a Melbourne railway platform just as a train pulled into the station. "I thought I'd lost my child, who I love more than anyone or anything else,” she told Woman’s Day magazine.

The pram was jolted 30 yards along the tracks at Ashburton station beneath the 250-tonne train. MIraculously, six-month-old Saurish escaped with a few bruises and scratches on his face. Ms Verma, 29, wept as she described the feeling of discovering that her child was safe. "I would equate it to having been in excruciating pain and shock, and suddenly being washed with an overwhelming feeling of relief. I was crying. I’d been thinking, 'Oh God' – and now all I could say was 'Thank you God. You have taken good care of him and it is because of your grace he is in my arms'. He was still crying, but he was with the person he was most familiar with. He seemed to know, 'I’m okay now, I’m in my mother’s arms'. Yes, he is definitely the world's luckiest baby."

In a deal thought to be worth around A$100,000 (£57,000), the dentist gave interviews to a gossip magazine and a television programme called A Current Affair. She described how she had put the brake on the pram as she waited, but released the brake as she saw the train approaching and started to prepare to board it. "I took the brake off and my hands left the pram for a fraction of a second, and suddenly it was flying off the platform,” she said. “There was a downward slope on the platform and it rolled away so quickly … I couldn’t catch it. I tried to grab it but it had gone."

The video shows Mrs Verma stumble as she makes a despairing leap forward for the handle of the pram. Fellow passengers stare in horror as the train hits the pram at 35km/h, as the driver tries frantically to stop. Ms Verma leapt onto the tracks with Aaron Dryden 18-year-old student, who crawled 5m under the train to recover Saurish. The Melbourne schoolboy said he jumped on to the tracks without a thought for his own safety and ran to where the train had come to a halt. He crawled 5m under the train to find the damaged pram. "When we got to him, the pram was lying on its side and he was strapped in, looking perfectly fine," Aaron told Woman's Day. "The pram was acting like a cocoon, protecting him. Shweta unbuckled the harness and we got him out. I took off my coat and put it around him."

Mrs Verma said that although Saurish was not physically injured, he was suffering from severe shock. “I can’t imagine what he was hearing and looking at,’ she said. Asked if she will ever put the incident behind her, Ms Verma said: "Honestly, no." But she said that the family was trying to resume normal life. "I have to take him out, life never stops, we have to move on. I have to get over it, and it's not good for the baby."