Alertness of the driver saved the man from being run over by the Metro train at Girish Park station.
A day after a 24-year-old woman, clutching an infant in her arms, committed suicide by jumping in front of an approaching Metro train in Kolkata on Sunday evening, a man reportedly tried to do the same but was rescued on time by an alert Metro railway official, a source in the Metro railways said.
According to sources, the man succumbed to his injuries later at a city hospital.
"A man jumped on the metro tracks at Girish Park Metro Station around 10.45 am when a Kabi Subhash (New Garia region) station-bound train was entering the platform. Metro services had to be stopped on an emergency basis," a Kolkata Metro Railway spokesperson said.
The official added that the alertness of the driver saved the man from being run over and he was eventually rescued from beneath the rake, but he later died at a hospital in the city.
"Thanks to the alert driver, the fatality could be averted. The man was taken out by our rescue team and immediately shifted to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital. He was slightly injured," the official said.
Metro services were partially affected for over an hour because of the incident.
"Metro services were halted between Dumdum and Maidan stations. However, the trains were plying between Maidan and Kabi Subhas stations as usual. Normal services between Dumdum and Maidan stations resumed at 11.50 am," the officer added.
Saturday's accident took place around 9pm at the Netaji Bhavan Station in South Kolkata's Bhowanipore area. A train was speeding into the platform from Dum Dum in the northern part of the town when the woman jumped into the tracks holding her baby. The Metro train was heading towards Garia in the south.
"At least six rakes ran over her," said an eyewitness. "But when the screams and the noise died down, an infant's cry was heard and rescue workers rushed the child to hospital."