Boy (7) critical after sucked from moving train
The boy was airlifted, along with his worried father, to a Durban hospital.
A CRITICALLY injured seven year-old boy found the strength to drag himself to find help after he was sucked from a moving train in the Shongweni Valley yesterday morning.
Brett Redman, a former SA motorcross champion, said he was out on a ride when he came across the little boy. He was initially told the child had been hit by a train, but was later informed the schoolboy had been sucked out of the train and landed in the tunnel.
The incident happened at about 9am yesterday morning when the child was on his way to school. The bikers arrived at the train tunnel at about 12.30pm. According to Paul Calow, one of the bikers who found the boy, the whole back of the child’s head was split open down to his skull, his jaw was swollen and he was covered in other injuries. He contacted SA Can.
“A security guard saw him walking out of the tunnel and then he just fell down. I couldn’t believe how small this little boy is, but a strong, tough little boy. What a fighter. The security guard saw him walking out of the tunnel and then he just fell down,” said Calow in an interview with SA Can.
Chris Botha of Netcare 911 received the call from SA Can to notify them that a young boy had fallen from a train and immediately dispatched a team down to the Devilwood Train Station. “The amazing part is that this little boy actually bandaged his head together with his tie. There was a huge impact and force to his head but he seemed to do first aid on himself, which, in itself, is an absolute miracle,” said Botha.
Paul Mnigati, the boy’s father, said he received a call from his other son to notify him of the incident. He rushed to the railway line.
Paramedics stabilised the critically-injured boy at the scene and realised that the road was too bad to try and transport the child by ambulance. The Red Cross helicopter was called in and the skilled pilot had to navigate her way through a very tricky area to land at the scene. The child was then airlifted to a specialised hospital in Durban.
