Salam asked, Santhosh didn't hesitate: How a 'mundu' helped rescue a vegetable vendor hit by train

Kanhangad: Days after M R Shaji, a tea vendor, drew praise for taking off his dhoti to cover a young woman injured in a bus accident at Tripunithura, another Kerala 'mundu' has become part of an equally remarkable act of humanity and quick thinking to rescue a critically injured man hit by a train in Kanhangad.

On Sunday morning, a loco pilot alerted authorities that a man had been struck by a train and was lying somewhere along the railway track in Kanhangad. Railway Police and rescue teams immediately launched a search. After a prolonged search, they found the injured youth near the South School railway track. He was later identified as Aneesh Kumar (30), a native of Bellikoth in Ajanur panchayat and a salesman at a vegetable shop in Kanhangad.

Among those who joined the search was Salam, an active volunteer of the Kanhangad-based charity collective 'Nanma Maram', whose members routinely assist the police in tracing victims of railway accidents. Aneesh had suffered severe head injuries and was bleeding profusely. With every passing minute reducing his chances of survival, rescuers faced another challenge: the accident site was inaccessible to an ambulance, and bringing a stretcher there would have taken precious time.

Salam looked at his friend Santosh by his side. "Can you give me your mundu?" he asked. Santosh did not hesitate. He took it off and handed it over.

The 'mundu' was quickly fashioned into a makeshift stretcher. Salam, Santosh and other rescuers carried Aneesh for nearly a kilometre through the difficult terrain until they reached a point where a Fire and Rescue Services ambulance could receive him. He was first taken to the District Hospital and later shifted to Aster MIMS Hospital, Kasaragod.

Aneesh underwent a six-hour decompressive craniectomy, an emergency surgery in which neurosurgeons removed a portion of his skull to relieve life-threatening pressure caused by swelling of the brain after the head injury. He remains in the intensive care unit. "He is still critical. The next three days are crucial. Only after that will we know how he is responding," a hospital official said.

The family, friends and employer, Sanju, pooled together ₹2.5 lakh, which had to be deposited before the surgery, Salam said, adding that the victim's identity was established only after his photograph was circulated through WhatsApp groups. 

Recalling the rescue, Santosh said the decision came instinctively. "I joined the search after the railway gatekeeper informed us about the accident. The police and Salam were already searching the area. Then we heard someone crying out, 'Mother...'. That's when we realised he was alive," he said.

"There was nothing to carry him on. Salam asked me for my mundu. I didn't think twice," said Santosh, who works at the Nithyananda Ashram in Kanhangad.

Around 10 days ago, Shaji gave his mundu to a woman, who was pulled out from under a bus at Statute Junction at Tripunithura. The CCTV footage of the selfless act went viral.