Newborn Baby Falls Onto Railway Tracks Minutes After Woman Gives Birth Inside Train Toilet

A newborn baby had a miraculous escape after he fell through the flush pipe of a train in India and landed on railway tracks — minutes after his 22-year-old mother gave birth to the baby boy.

According to the Indian Express, this disturbing incident happened in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan earlier this week. Fortunately, the baby survived the fall — partly because of the fact that the train was stationary at the time. Initial reports say that the newborn baby fell through the flush pipe as the mother, who has only been identified as Mannu, went into labor and gave birth before she and her family could reach their intended destination..

The Times of India reports that the incident happened aboard a train travelling from the town of Barmer in Rajasthan to the city of Kalka in Haryana State. The story has been confirmed by a senior railway police official as well. A senior GRP (General Railway Police) released an official statement describing the incident which reads.

“The incident occurred late on Sunday night in Dabli Rathan in Hanumangarh when a pregnant woman who was travelling on Barmer Kalka Express from Suratgarh to Hanumangarh with her mother and husband went to toilet after getting labor pains. She delivered a baby boy in the toilet and the newborn slipped through the pipe and fell on the railway track.”

The statement adds that after delivering the newborn baby, the woman fell unconscious and was deboarded and sent to a hospital. The highlight of the story is the fact that the little newborn infant survived the nearly six feet fall onto the railway tracks.

“The woman, because of heavy bleeding, became unconscious. She was taken off the train in Hanumangarh, which was the next station, eight km from the delivery site and was taken to a hospital,” the statement reads.

According to an India Today report, the baby was rescued by an employee of the Food Corporation of India after the cries of the baby attracted his attention. The baby was quickly rescued and was later reunited with his mother at the hospital where she was admitted. Both the mother and the newborn child are doing well now.

In case you are wondering how a newborn baby could fall on to the railway tracks while being inside a train toilet, the explanation is simple. A vast majority of trains on the Indian Railways have toilets that do not have undercarriage tanks for storing sewage. Instead, all they have is a long pipe that opens up directly onto the railway tracks — and that is where the human waste is dumped. Gross as it may sound, for the cash-strapped Indian Railways that caters to over 23 million people daily, this is just another way of keeping costs low.

[Image Via Darpan Magazine]