A one-and-a-half-year-old child lost its life at the Mambalam Railway Station in the city, after slipping through its mother’s hands onto the tracks.

According to Railway Police sources, Lakshmi (32) was travelling on the Mannai Express with her husband Sundaravelan (34) and child Aghashree. The train reached Mambalam station at 5.08 a.m. on platform number 3. The mishap occurred when Lakshmi, who was carrying Aghashree was getting down from the train. “As she tried to get down, the train started moving. In the confusion, the child slipped through the gap between the train and the platform and fell on the tracks. Lakshmi who tried saving Aghashree, lost her legs,” police said.

Sundaravelan worked as an assistant professor at Meenakshi College in Kodambakkam and the couple lived in Vembuli Amman Koil Street in KK Nagar. They were returning from Thiruvaiyaru, where they had spent the weekend.

Lakshmi’s brother, father-in-law and mother-in-law too were said to be travelling with them on the S4 coach. All of them had got down with their baggage first. Lakshmi was the last one to get down with the child. The train stopped here for just two minutes.

The police said Lakshmi could have shown some restraint when the train started moving and could have got down at Egmore, which might have prevented the mishap. “Or, the men in the family should have given way for her to deboard first,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Railway Police retrieved the child’s body and sent it to Stanley Medical College and Hospital for post mortem. Lakshmi. on the other hand, has also been admitted to the same hospital for treatment, as she had lost her legs in the accident. The Railway Police personnel who said that they were ‘shocked’ at the incident, noted that this was the first time that such an accident happened here.