Mother’s relief as son survives fall under train

A mother has described the horror of seeing her baby roll off a station platform in his buggy and into the path of an oncoming train.

CCTV from the station in Melbourne showed Shweta Verma in despair as her six-month-old son Saurish was dragged 30 yards down the track in his three-wheeled stroller. He survived with just a bump to his head.

Speaking for the first time since the accident this month, Mrs Verma said she had positioned the buggy to board the train but let go of it to hitch up her trousers.

"It was the first time I'd travelled on a train with him, but I thought it would be alright," the 29-year-old dentist told Woman's Day magazine.

"I had the brake on, but as the train approached, I began preparing myself. I took the brake off and my hands left the pram for a fraction of a second, and suddenly it was flying off the platform.

"There was a downward slope of the platform and it rolled away so quickly, I couldn't catch it. I tried to grab it but it was gone." It crossed her mind to jump in front of the train, she said.

"I thought I'd lost my child, who I love more than anyone or anything else - but the next moment, all I could think was how to find him and see how he was. It was a life and death fear." Schoolboy Aaron Dryden, 18, jumped onto the tracks to retrieve Saurish. "I'm so indebted to him," said Mrs Verma.

"I was crying. He was still crying but he seemed to know 'I'm OK now, I'm in my mother's arms." She added: "All I could say was 'Thank you, God! You have taken good care of him and it is because of your grace that he is in my arms I'll never let go of my son again."

Mrs Verma says she will never forgive herself for not holding onto the buggy and has been reliving the accident. She has not had counselling but says she is keeping busy and singing lullabies.