A woman and her 10-month-old son were killed, the infant on the spot, after they were hit by a speeding electric train near Perungalathur station on Sunday evening.
The woman, Vasumathi (30), had noticed the approaching train while crossing the track but seem to have assumed that it would stop at the railway station. Being a fast local, between Chennai Beach and Tirumalpur, the train did not stop.
The accident happened when Shanmugham (30), a resident of Kamarajar High Road, Perungalathur, was returning with his wife and child from Tambaram on a motorcycle. When they approached the railway level crossing (LC No. 33), the gates were closed. Shanmugham asked Vasumathi to get down and walk across the level crossing with the infant, Vikram, while he managed to squeeze through the gates on the motorcycle.
Citing eyewitnesses’ account, personnel of Government Railway Police, Tambaram, said Vasumathi noticed the train approaching but continued to walk.
Vasumathi was taken to a private hospital in Tambaram, where she died. Shanmugham, who was a witness to the death of his wife and their son, was in a state of shock.