Mind the gap: 3-year-old girl in Shanghai falls onto high-speed rail track

Mind the gap: 3-year-old girl in Shanghai falls onto high-speed rail track
PHOTO: Screengrab/Weibo

A security officer on patrol at a train station in Shanghai has been lauded a hero for rescuing a three-year-old girl after she fell onto a high-speed rail track on Oct 10.

A news clip shared on Weibo by a local broadcast channel — which received more than 310,000 views — showed the toddler slipping and falling through the platform gap while boarding the train bound for Shanxi province.

While her mother watched helplessly, the security officer came to the rescue, dropping to his knees and pulling the girl out to safety.

"Are you injured? You can tell this uncle, don't be scared," the officer said, patting and comforting the crying girl, who was still in shock from the ordeal.

At the end of the video, he reminded the girl to make sure she holds on to her mother's hand in the future.

In the comments, netizens were full of praise for the officer for his heroic act.

Other netizens criticised the mother for neglecting her child's safety. They pointed out that she was walking in front of the child with her luggage on one hand and her mobile phone on the other.

One social media user wrote: "This parent is so careless. You should have let the child walk in front and then come back for your luggage."

In April this year, a railway worker saved a six-year-old boy's life in Mumbai after the child fell onto the track when he walked too close to the edge of the platform. 

While his visually-impaired mother cried for help, Mayur Shelke ran towards the boy, picked him up and threw him onto the platform and climbed up himself — mere seconds before an oncoming train reached the station. 

Shelke said: "I saw the kid falling and the train speeding towards him. There was no chance he would have lived had I not intervened." 

chingshijie@asiaone.com

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