RailEnquiry

MUMBAI: In a mishap that highlights the need for better emergency medical help on trains, a pregnant woman who was travelling from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai lost the premature twins that she delivered on the long-distance train on July 20. When she finally disembarked at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and was taken to Nair Hospital by her husband, the infants were declared dead.Parvinissa, 21, was accompanied by her husband, Sakir Saha, in June to her mother's place in UP when she was six months pregnant. Sakir, a daily wage earner who lives in a Worli slum, thought Parvinissa would be better cared for at her mother's home than in Mumbai. But within days of his return to the city, she called him up to inform him that her health had deteriorated. The couple then decided it was better for her to come back to Mumbai with its superior medical facilities. On July 19, a seven-month pregnant Parvinissa boarded the Pratapgarh Express from Lucknow around 10.45 pm.She was accompanied by her mother, Saidunia, and her mother-in-law Sajrunissa. Around 11 am the next day, Parvinissa unexpectedly went into labour and delivered twins when the train was approaching Kanpur station. The two babies, a boy and a girl, were weak but the women did not know whom to approach for help. "About 20 minutes after they were born, the twins stopped making any movement. A frightened Parvinissa called up her husband, who said he would board the train as soon as it reached Kalyan and take her to hospital," a police official said.Around 4.30am on July 21, the train reached Kalyan and Sakir got into the S-3 bogie. "At Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT), the family hailed a cab and rushed to Nair Hospital in Mumbai Central. But their twins were declared dead on arrival. Doctors informed the Agripada police nearby, who recorded the couple's statements and registered a case of accidental death. The papers were then transferred to the Kurla railway police in whose jurisdiction LTT lies," said senior inspector S Dhumal of the Kurla railway police.The husband and wife have since returned to their hometown in UP to conduct the last rites of the infants. The police, who say that they were not informed by Sakir or his family members about the twins' deaths between Kanpur and LTT, are waiting for him to return to gather more details.