A man is being praised as a hero after risking his life to rescue a child who fell onto train tracks at the Vangani station in Mumbai, India, as an oncoming train barreled into the station, according to India's Ministry of Railways.
The ministry released video that shows Shri Mayur Shelke running at full speed down a set of train tracks to save a child who had fallen off the platform and onto the tracks as a train approached.
The video, captured by security cameras at the station, shows the child initially walking alongside an unidentified person when they slip off of the edge of the platform and onto the tracks below. The video shows the child struggling to get back onto the platform and the unidentified person grasping at the air, struggling to pull them to safety.
As the oncoming train quickly approaches, Shelke can be seen sprinting toward the child and throwing them onto the platform just seconds before a train blows past them, swooping in to save their life with just moments to spare.
Shelke works as a pointsman at the Vangani station where the incident occurred. Following his heroic efforts, the Ministry of Railways congratulated Shelke in a press release, praising him for his actions and offering him a monetary reward of 50,000 rupees.
The minister of railways, Piyush Goyal, announced the reward in a press release shared by the Ministry of Railways online. In the announcement, Shelke is congratulated for "the act of bravery, courage, and presence of mind" while on duty.
The ministry continued to celebrate Shelke for his brave act with a standing round of applause from their staff and an in-person congratulations from the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), as shown in a video shared on their Twitter account.
