Shocked commuters recall a mother’s panicked cries for help just as a passing train hit a pram, which fell onto the tracks. Her partner and one of her daughters were killed in a freak accident.
Bystanders watched in shock as the double pram carrying two-year-old twins fell from the platform onto the tracks at Carlton train station.tation in The South of Sydney around 12.25pm on Sunday.
The twins’ 40-year-old father jumped from the platform in a heroic attempt to save them.
A train passing by the station collided with the father and one of the girls, killing them.
The 39-year-old mother of the twins was heard standing helplessly on the platform, screaming, “Save my babies,” seconds before impact.
The second girl miraculously escaped unharmed, despite being trapped under the train.
Emergency workers arrived on the scene within minutes and heard the surviving toddler’s cries before finding her.
Shocking CCTV footage (pictured) captured St George’s residents walking past a supermarket minutes before arriving at the station
Carlton train station was closed for the rest of the day following the tragic accident
The little girl was taken to safety and handed over to her distraught mother on the platform before the couple were taken away St George Hospital.
Commuters are shocked by the tragedy.
“I knew right away it was bad,” Grant Azzopardi recalls.
‘I heard the train go by and I heard the woman running for her life, ‘please stop, stop,”
‘The train couldn’t stop.’
Lauren Langelaar added: ‘She (the mother) was standing on the platform and screaming her husband’s name.’
“We only heard one child crying, not two.”
Poignant footage shows the Kogarah family on a Sunday outing just minutes before the tragedy.
Seven minutes before the accident, the family was seen walking past the shops towards a zebra crossing.
The father was responsible for the stroller, while his partner held a trolley bag.
She was seen briefly looking into a supermarket before crossing the street towards the train station.
The family then used an elevator to reach the platform.
The local Indian community has rallied behind the mother and surviving child, who came to Australia from India in October last year after the father found a new job in Sydney, it said. Nine news.
Miraculously, one of the twin girls was found alive under the train
The local Indian community has rallied behind the family (pictured) who moved to Australia from India in October last year after the father found a job in Sydney
Sydney Trains announced on Sunday evening that T4 trains are returning to normal service ahead of the start of the working week.
An investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding the tragic deaths, with police monitoring the speed of the train.
It is suspected that a sudden gust of wind blew the stroller off the platform into the path of the oncoming train.
The train was en route from Cronulla to the city at the time and would not stop at Carlton station.
The station remained closed on Sunday evening.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Paul Dunstan said the parents appeared to have taken their hands off the pram for a “very short period” as it rolled towards the tracks.
Mr Dunstan said police were investigating what caused the pram to roll, and it may have been something as simple as a ‘gust of wind’.
He said the father “went into parent mode to save his two young daughters” when he realised the train had hit the tracks.
“It was a heroic and courageous act as a father… and it cost him his life,” he said.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, who lives within 100 metres of the station, said the father died in an “extraordinary, instinctive act of bravery”.
“He gave his own life to save his children,” he said.
Mr Minns described the incident as a “terrible, terrible tragedy” for the surviving family members and emergency services.
A few minutes after the police received the report of an accident, the police arrived and could hear ‘crying’ from underneath the wagon.
Mr Dunstan said it was “more luck than anything” that the young girl escaped the tragedy relatively unscathed.
“She was sort of lying between the tracks (because of) the way she fell and was largely unaffected,” he said.
Mr Dunstan said the mother was ‘clearly very traumatised’.
‘[She is] “I’m obviously in shock and struggling with what happened today,” he said.
Two hours after the incident, emergency services were found at the station, where they began the arduous task of removing the bodies from under the train.
NSW Police said the incident was not being treated as suspicious and officers were investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the father and his daughter (pictured officers at the police station)
Sydney Trains CEO Matt Longland said all relevant information, including CCTV footage, has been handed over to police to assist their investigation.
Mr Longland said the train did not stop at the station en route to Bondi Junction.
“(The train) approached the station with caution. That’s how our drivers have to drive so they can make sure there are no incidents on the platform,” he said.
“These types of incidents are incredibly rare, but the outcome is clearly tragic.”
Mr Longland said Sydney Trains is working to restore regular services at the start of the working week on Monday morning.
He added that the driver and other personnel were being supported.
According to reports, a commuter tried to warn the driver of the danger, but was unsuccessful.
A passenger in the fifth car of the train told Seven News he did not see the aftermath of the crash but was “concerned” that children were involved.
All passengers were evacuated before police established a crime scene (pictured) and suspended further services between Wolli Creek and Hurstville stations