It has been a tough time for Mumbai citizens as heavy showers continue to trouble the city. In the process, waterlogging paralysed normal life. The severe effects of monsoon were witnessed when five people were injured on Tuesday morning after a section of a 40-year-old bridge collapsed around 7.30 am at Mumbai’s Andheri station.
Things could have been gone from bad to worse had it not been for Chandrashekhar Sawant’s presence of mind. Sawant, the driver of a local train noticed the bridge crumbling from a near distance and he quickly applied emergency brakes to stop the train just a few metres away.
Thanks to Chandrashekar who displayed stellar heroics and saved many lives. For his heroic act, he was awarded 5 lakh rupees from the Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal. ‘I immediately applied emergency brakes when I saw the line snap. A major accident was averted as it was peak hour and a lot of people were around,’ Sawant said.
“Slabs had started falling as we were approaching the bridge. By the time I hit the emergency brakes, the slabs had fallen… We stopped at a distance of hardly 60 metres,” NDTV quoted Sawant saying.
“It was a regular day when I noticed that the bridge ahead was beginning to come down. My instant reaction was to hit the emergency brakes as far from the crash as possible,” he told Zee News.
“I would like to thank motorman Chandrashekhar Sawant who stopped the train as soon he saw an overhead electric line snap and averted a bigger mishap. He will be awarded Rs 5 lakh,” Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said.
Union Railways Minister said that emergency compensation of Rs 1 lakh will be given to 5 people injured in the unfortunate incident and further added that the railways will take care of their treatment expenses.
