12-Year-Old Boy Averts Train Crash With Quick Thinking, but Railway Company Denies His Efforts

Quick thinking from a young man in West Bengal, India averted a railway disaster last weekend, but the train’s owners weren’t willing to take the blame. Once they acknowledged the boy’s efforts, many said it was insulting rather than rewarding.

According to India Today, 12-year-old kid Mursalim Sheikh was hanging around the Bhaluka Road station around 3:30 on the afternoon of Sept. 24 when he noticed a section of railway track had washed away. Seeing the Kanchanjungha Express fast approaching, with hundreds of commuters onboard, Sheikh took off his red shirt and waved it frantically to get the engineer’s attention. Miraculously, his plan worked. The train’s operator was able to engage the emergency brake, bringing it to a halt just in time.

Villagers in Sheikh’s hometown of Malda were quick to herald his rescue skills, but employees of the Northeast Frontier Railway were not. Executives reportedly twice denied Sheikh’s heroism, saying that they had spotted the broken track and were already stopping before he waved them down.

The company grudgingly confirmed the true story the day after the incident. "A 12-year-old child in Malda waved his red shirt at the train, due to which the loco-pilot applied emergency brakes and stopped the passenger train. The child did this because the railway track was damaged due to heavy rains,” they reported in a terse statement.

On Monday, executives made their way to Sheikh’s village to bequeath the boy with a “reward” that locals agree is stingy, at best. Northeast offered a “certificate of appreciation” and a sum of 1,500 Rupees, which is about $18 USD, for the boy’s life-saving efforts.

Sheikh’s father, Mohammad Ismail, a migrant worker, and Marjina Bibi, a bidi worker (or cigarette manufacturer), both derided Northeast for the belated recognition, as did many others in their village of Jhangarpara. Even the certificate seems to admit the compensation is inadequate, with the word “only” pointedly inserted after the amount.

Nonetheless, Murasalim Sheikh seems to be enjoying his time in the spotlight. Hopefully his future life-saving endeavors will be sufficiently rewarded.