MIRACULOUS ESCAPE

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 19 September 1934, Page 9

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE

BABY HURLED FROM PRAM STRUCK BY SUBURBAN TRAIN FOUND LYING UNHURT. By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, Sept. 18. Hurled from a pram as it fell in front of an advancing train at the Penrose railway station to-day a nine-months-old baby, had a miraculous ■escape from death.' After the train had been stopped the child was found lying between, the platform and the ne,sr-si Is ef the railway line. It was unscathed an*! since the accident •has shown no Ay lnitmn* ef UJ.MJ *t after-effects. '

The child was wheeled on to the station platform by its mother, a Penrose resident, who intended to travel to the city. The mother left the pram alongside the booking office while purchasing a ticket. As a suburban train entered the station it is thought the vibration of the approaching train and the; wind combined to set the pram in motion. Officials on the platform were horrified)to see the pram rolling toward the track, of the oncoming train.

The mother and one of the nearest officials rushed after the pram, but it reached the edge of the platform, and while falling to the track was struck by the front of the engine. The engine-driver immediately applied his brakes and the train was stopped in less than a car-length: The pram was dragged along the track for about 30 yards, but there was no sign of the infant when the officials reached the wrecked conveyance. It was not until an official descended to the track that he saw the baby, unharmed, lying on the ballast under the projecting edge of the platform.

The spot where it Was found was near the back of the first passenger car of the train, the engine and the major portion of a car having passed alongside the child as it lay on the ground,. When it was pieked up the leather strap that had held it in the pram was still fastened round the baby’s body. The force of the impact had apparently torn the strap from its fastenings and the baby had been thrown clear. A railway official who witnessed the accident said the child had a miraculous escape, as it seemed impossible to avert a tragedy.