Watching kites,man falls off train

A man leaning out of a train apparently to watch kites flying on Makar Sankranti hit a pole and fell alongside the railway tracks but escaped with fractures and minor injuries. Shankar Makwana (22),a sweeper in a Malad housing complex,had boarded at Malad. He fell off between Malad and Goregaon around 3.15 pm on Thursday. “He was standing near the door. He may have been trying to catch a kite,” says his brother Rajesh.

People from nearby slums came to his aid. After trying in vain to stop three trains,they stopped the fourth by standing on the tracks and waving a red T-shirt. Makwana was taken to Malad station,from where he was shifted to a hospital. He is out danger and recuperating. “The motorman informed the deputy station superintendent about the accident at 3.45 pm,” said Western Railway (WR) chief spokesperson Shyam Sunder Gupta.

But before the railways could come to the rescue,local people stopped a train and took him to Malad. “It is difficult for the motorman to stop the train all of a sudden. It is possible to do so if he is given any indication,” he added.